Tequila Mockingbird
by Masika
Summary: {Post Game Yuffentine} Yuffie decided to drag Vincent from his coffin and back to Kalm. Complete! Short chapter, mainly for leading into the sequel.
1. Embrasse Moi

Tequila Mockingbird  
  
  
  
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A/N: Vincent is most likely OOC in this fic. But it fits the purpose, so deal with it and stuff. This is meant to be a fun story, not a terribly serious and absolutely in character fic. Sorry about that. ^.~  
  
A/N2: This hasn't been edited yet. I'll fix it later, okies?  
  
Disclaimer: Squaresoft own them all. (Jerks!) Jell-O owns Jell-O.  
  
Disclaimer2: Tequila Mockingbird is a song by Vanessa Mae. I'm just borrowing it a little for this fic. The song Yuffie sings in the shower is called "Embrasse Moi (You Fly Me Up) and it's also by Vanessa Mae. I have no idea what the words mean (I'm assuming it's French) so pardon me if I write anything dirty in here. I really don't mean to. ^_^ The NEXT song that Yuffie sings is ALSO by Vanessa Mae (can ya tell I'm a fan? ^^) and is called "I Feel Love". It's in in English, so don't worry, I know what I'm writing. Now, on to the story!  
  
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A sharp rapping directly in front of his nose snapped his scarlet eyes open and his claw to lash at the lid that concealed his enemy.  
  
A loud crack was the next thing that entered his senses, followed by a flash of pale skin and hunter green. That, and a string of obscenities that would have made Cid Highwind a proud man indeed.  
  
"I tink you oke by dose, Valentwine!" a very disgruntled and on the floor Yuffie Kisaragi said waspishly.  
  
"Yuffie?" Vincent asked, clearly surprised to see the young ninja sitting at the floor of his coffin. "What are you doing?"  
  
"Nursding da dose you oke!" she snapped, stormy eyes glaring at him.  
  
Vincent mentally shook his head. "I mean, what are you doing here?"  
  
Yuffie sniffed indignantly, seeming to get her voice back somewhat from the nasal sound her "broken" nose had reduced it to. "Making sure you keep yer ass outta dere!"  
  
Vincent raised an eyebrow. Yuffie hit the floor. Vincent raised the other eyebrow. Yuffie looked at him. If looks could kill, Yuffie would make sure everyone stayed alive for a long time. Her death glare wasn't doing much except hurting her eyes.  
  
"Why?" Vincent asked pointedly.  
  
Yuffie sniffed. "You'll turn into a real vampire, and then I'll have to watch my neck, not just my materia."  
  
Vincent's expression turned amused. "Which one of us the the materia thief extraordinaire, hmm?"  
  
"Shut up. I'll still have to sleep with a towel around my neck at night, now won't I?"  
  
"I hardly think a towel would stop me, Yuffie, but I'm not going to turn into a vampire. You should leave."  
  
"No way!"  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"I'm...er, we're all worried about you. I mean, you haven't even spoken to us in over a month!"  
  
Vincent sighed, not liking the pouty look Yuffie's face was taking on. "What do you want me to do?"  
  
Yuffie's stormy eyes lit up and she grinned a pretty little grin before grabbing his hand. "ComestayatKalmwitheveryoneforawhile!" was all she said, Vincent not being able to understand a word of it, before dashing out the door with him. She continued to dash up the steps, out of the cellar, through the hallway, out the front door, through the gates and outside of Niblehiem where the gold chocobo Tsuna waited.  
  
Hopping onto the chocobo with her death grip still on Vincent's hand, Yuffie clicked her tongue and spurred the chocobo into speed. Vincent, still not on the bird, could either be dragged or hop on and trust Yuffie to not dump him in the ocean.  
  
Vincent was sorely tempted to let himself be dragged.  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
Tsuna arrived at Kalm with a chipper Yuffie and a rumpled looking Vincent. Tifa and Cloud were there to greet them.  
  
"Vincent!" Cloud said.  
  
"You noticed?" Vincent asked dryly.  
  
Tifa wrapped Vincent in a don't-you-try-to-get-away kind of hug, which he desperately tried to get away from. People were not his forte. Meanwhile, Yuffie was bouncing around happily, shadow boxing at the air and eyeing Cloud's materia. Vincent sighed.  
  
The air in Kalm was hot. Really hot. Yuffie tore off her black denim jacket like it was a sin she had been trying to rid herself of for years. Vincent looked at it, recognizing a fine piece of craftsmanship when he saw one. That jacket had obviously been bought (or stolen, knowing Yuffie) from Cosmo Canyon. You just didn't find perfect works like that anywhere. He hoped Yuffie knew what it was and was careful with it.  
  
She threw it in the bushes.  
  
Sighing and smacking himself on the forehead with his good had, Vincent removed the jacket from the bush it had landed in and followed the company to Tifa's new bar, Mako Eyes. Everyone who knew her knew where the name came from. Everyone who didn't thought she was odd but mixed a good drink. Either way, people ended up happy and thoroughly drunk. All's well that ends well.  
  
"Vincent, how long are you planning on staying in Kalm?" Cloud asked.  
  
Vincent almost choked on the tequila Tifa had brought him. Stay? He had to stay? Yuffie hadn't said anything about that. At least, Vincent didn't think so. Her words had been a little too blurred to tell.  
  
"Um, I suppose..."  
  
"Great! We can set up a room for you at Yuffie's place. She's got a guest bedroom, I think. I'm surprised she stayed here instead of Wutai, though..."  
  
"I'm not," Tifa piped in, both blissfully unaware of Vincent. "After all, Godo has been a problem lately, and you know she's being pressured into becoming Lady Kisaragi..."  
  
This caught Vincent's attention. Lady of Wutai, at barely seventeen? When Godo was still perfectly capable of leading Wutai. Small wonder Yuffie was staying in Kalm.  
  
"Where'd she disappear to, anyway?" Cloud asked suddenly.  
  
"Ahhhhhhhhh!"  
  
Around a corner came flying, amidst a barrage of black feathers, Yuffie mounted on top of a black chocobo. Vincent's black chocobo. Apparently, Cloud and Tifa were still taking care of it here at Kalm. Apparently and unfortunately.  
  
"Vinnieeeeeeee! Why didn't you tell me thing this was so fast?!" Yuffie wailed as she whizzed by. Tifa sighed and put a hand to her forehead, whistling as the chocobo trotted toward her, panting cheerfully. Yuffie's eyes boggled as she clutched the chocobo's neck for dear life, eyes remaining as wide as saucers.  
  
"That...was...so cool!" she said, grinning at everyone. "This chick here," she continued, patting the chocobo's side who warked in return, "Is faster than Tsuna. And she's a gold!"  
  
"Uh, Yuffie, I thought we told you to keep away from the chocobo stables?"  
  
Yuffie had the decency to look sheepish. "Yeah, well, I thought Vinnie here might want his chocobo back!"  
  
Vincent raised an elegant eyebrow. "Vinnie?"  
  
Yuffie's head bobbed. "Right-o! What's her name, anyway?"  
  
"Whose?"  
  
"The chocobo's, bird brain! Eh, heh heh, sorry there," she said, patting the chocobo again.  
  
Vincent sighed. "Hades."  
  
"Hades, huh? Gosh, Vinnie, you're so morbid."  
  
With that, Hades trotted* back to the chocobo stables with Yuffie on her back, obscenities making their presence known as they seemed to follow Yuffie everywhere she and Hades went.  
  
"So, I'm staying at Yuffie's?" Vincent asked Cloud and Tifa.  
  
Tifa nodded chipperly. "I'm sure she won't mind! But do you know why she brought you?"  
  
Vincent shook his head. "No, other than I'm to keep my ass out of my coffin."  
  
Cloud blinked. Vincent rarely swore. He hoped he was just quoting Yuffie and it wasn't wearing off.  
  
"Darn tootin'!" Yuffie said, approaching them again. The group had gradually migrated outside of Cloud and Tifa's house. "But he broke my nose for it!"  
  
Tifa's eyes widened as she flocked around Yuffie like a worried mother hen. "Let me see!" she said. After a few seconds of poking and prodding and Yuffie faking an "Ow!", Tifa declared, "It doesn't look broken!"  
  
"Oh, sure, NOW it doesn't!" Yuffie retorted. "It was shattered into a million pieces before!" she said, throwing her arms wide for emphasis.  
  
"Yeah, Yuffie. Uh-huh," Cloud said, rolling his eyes. He and Tifa were making their way inside.  
  
"So, Vinnie!" Yuffie said, turning to the dark man next to her. "Where are you going to be staying?"  
  
Cloud and Tifa hurried into the house, shut and locked the door as quickly as they could. Tifa was already halfway up the stairs when a scream what heard.  
  
"WHAT?!?!? CLOUD, I AM SOOOO GOING TO KILL YOU!"  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
After retrieving her jacket from Vincent, Yuffie started walking aimlessly in circles around Kalm. Vinnie had come with her awfully easy, after all. She expected she'd at least have to knock him out with her Conformer to get him to come. Why was it that he had followed** her so easily? She'd have to find out sometime.  
  
Returning to her house slowly, Yuffie entered through the doors decorated with Leviathan around it's edges. She took the jacket off and threw it on a chair, not wanting to be reprimanded again by Vinnie for throwing it into the bushes.  
  
On the table was a letter from Godo. Another one. Why did he want her to go back to Wutai so badly? He could manage perfectly well on his own, and besides, she was too young for responsibilities like running a place like Wutai!  
  
"Lady Yuffie Kisaragi -  
  
How have you been fairing, daughter? I hope all is well in Kalm and Tifa and Cloud are treating you right.  
  
As you know, the Leviathan Celebration is approaching in three weeks. I wish for you to return to Wutai to complete the ceremony. I realize you don't wish to; but unfortunately, this isn't something you have much choice in. The leading lady of Wutai must participate in the dances. You don't need to assume the leadership of Wutai, but please, Yuffie. Participate.  
  
Love you,  
  
Godo  
  
P.S. - Bring a partner for the dances, or I'll set you up with someone you'll REALLY enjoy."  
  
Yuffie sighed and threw the letter back down onto the table. Her father was always so formal, and then tossed in, willy nilly, that last little bit of sarcasm nobody needed. But why did she need to bring a dance partner? She'd never needed one before. Then again, her mother had almost always performed the dances for the Leviathan Celebration.  
  
As much as her father frustrated her, she still loved him. At least, she thought so. It was hard to love a father at times when he was trying to make you the leader of a very large country.  
  
Stretching, Yuffie plopped down a kitchen chair, pondering the letter and something to eat while she pondered. Vincent chose that moment to walk into the kitchen, no doubt in search of food.  
  
"Why the long face?" Yuffie asked him, eyeing his solemn expression.  
  
"I could ask the same for you."  
  
"Pardon me, Mr. Snooty," Yuffie responded sarcastically, hopping up to fix herself some chai tea. It was really the only thing that sounded good at the current moment.  
  
"Tifa has decided that I need to learn Wutainese dances."  
  
Yuffie could have sworn her ears turned into that of a cat. 'Perfect!' she thought gleefully. 'What timing! Once he learns, I'll just...and then...'  
  
Yuffie whirled on Vincent, a dark gleam in her eyes. "Really?" she asked cheerfully and bounded from the room, her tea forgotten.  
  
Vincent winced. "Why do I think I shouldn't have said that?" he asked the cup of tea on the counter.  
  
He could have sworn the tea chuckled.  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
"It's working!" Tifa cried gleefully, shoving her elbow into Cloud's rib harder than she meant to.  
  
"I see that," Cloud manage to choke out.  
  
"No, it's really, really going to work!"  
  
"I see that," Cloud grumped again. "Now can we go back home?"  
  
The two were perched precariously behind a bush outside Yuffie's kitchen window. Vincent had said exactly what Tifa wanted him to at exactly the right time.  
  
"Scrooge," Tifa said cheerfully as they made their way back to their own house. Tifa could barely contain her glee, chanting "It's working!" the entire way back.  
  
Cloud decided he needed some aspirin.  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
Kalm's stores were never the same once Yuffie the Whirlwind had raided them. The materia store was miraculously left alone, yet all the others stores (knowing Yuffie's history) knew this to be an insult.  
  
Yuffie bought a new outfit for herself, one suitable for practicing Wutainese dances in. She just hoped that Vincent didn't catch her dancing in her room, or he'd know what she was up to for sure. That just wouldn't do.  
  
Laughing (somewhat maniacally) on her way home, Yuffie spied Tifa grinning like a nut at her from her garden as she walked by. Yuffie raised her eyebrows; she didn't like that look in the bartender's eye. It unsettled her, because somehow it said "I've gotcha where I wantcha." Oh no, Yuffie did NOT like that look.  
  
Racing home, she stored the memory of Tifa looking evil into her "Ponder When Vincent Gets Blue Eyes" file at the back of her mind. She was simply too hyped to worry about Tifa's diabolical schemes.  
  
Racing up the stairs and barging past a very startled Vincent, she slammed the door to her bedroom. Vincent remained in the hallway, asking himself if a typhoon had just gone by in the shape of Yuffie or if he was losing it. Shrugging, he decided to get out of the way of Yuffie's room before it exploded or something.  
  
Violently ripping open the shopping bags, Yuffie donned her outfit. Stretchy black shorts that were a hint longer than normal and a scarlet tank top much like her old green one. She had actually bought a type of ballet slipper. Every type of Wutainese dance required the feet to be able to slide smoothly, so Yuffie had no choice. She put on her fingerless black gloves (the ones she had absolutely no use for; she just thought they looked "nifty!") and slammed her door open, walked out, slammed it shut, and hit the stairs.  
  
It was only when she saw Vincent in the kitchen wearing his usual black and red did she realize that her entire outfit consisted of his colors. How did that happen? Yuffie wondered. Vincent seemed to notice as well and raised an ebony eyebrow. Yuffie blushed (which only added to the color scheme) and ran as fast as she could into the basement.  
  
Vincent's other eyebrow raised as the basement door slammed. This was indeed a strange, strange day. Yuffie was dressing like him, minus the cape. Vincent decided then that this required some thought.  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
Balanced keenly on her toes, Yuffie slowly made her way around the room, her slippered feet making no noise on the concrete floor. It would hurt if she fell, but that would only lead to her not making the same mistakes as quickly.  
  
Slowly, Yuffie ran over the first eighteen counts of the dance and proceeded with them ten times correctly before she speeded them up. This had to be absolutely perfect!  
  
Her mind not even registering that Vincent didn't know the dance yet and didn't know that he would even be attending the festival, Yuffie continued the elegant and ancient movements. Her knees almost always remained bent, and she counted aloud to herself as she danced.  
  
After she had run through most of the dance, she put the music on softly, it's Spanish styles drifting throughout the room softly. The insulation and thick walls of the basement should muffle she music, or at least Yuffie hoped.  
  
And so she began, feet prettily perched on her toes as she circled and dipped the best she could without a partner. Smiling to herself as the music ended with a chord of a guitar, she bowed to the stereo in thanks and, very proud of herself, made her way back out of the basement.  
  
A scarlet eye peeked out of the corner of the window, clearly saying "It's working!" to the stereo that had been left behind.  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
Vincent eyed the basement door as it opened, Yuffie coming out of it with a triumphant and winded look on her face. She was proud, and Vincent was a little hesitant to ask why. Any positive emotions from Yuffie other than sheer, mindless happiness always involved property damage or loss of life.  
  
This needed further observation.  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
"No, no, no! Vincent, you've gotta go like THIS!" Tifa exclaimed.  
  
Ah, how Vincent wished Cloud would dash through those doors and save him gallantly. Chuckling a little at the thought, he gracefully repeated the steps Tifa had just shown him.  
  
A chuckled from the doors took Vincent's attention. Cloud stood there, and he had indeed dashed in, but Vincent didn't think he was going to "save him gallantly". Instead, the traitorous swine stood there laughing at the doorway.  
  
"I'll shoot you in your sleep," Vincent muttered grumpily as he turned back to Tifa. He already knew how to dance, so why did he have to learn Wutainese dances? It wasn't like Yuffie needed a partner or anything.  
  
Tifa grinned and repeated the last eight counts she had just shown him, adding another eight. Vincent duplicated her movements with ease. He was obviously a fast learner, but Tifa had hoped he would be a bit slower. However, she could show him more dances this way, and have more time to plan.  
  
"It's working!" Tifa said happily, looking at Cloud. He rolled his eyes, and Vincent was left in the dark (so to speak) about the matter. He assumed they were talking about the dances he was learning.  
  
After another sixteen counts of the first dance had been added, Tifa paused. "You're good. You should practice with Yuffie sometime!"  
  
Vincent raised his eyebrows. He liked Yuffie, but dancing with her seemed a bit scary. He sincerely hoped she could dance better than she could cook. Her tea was about the only thing that didn't produce radiation and kill all the local crops.  
  
"Oh, c'mon!" Tifa said beseechingly. "I'll teach you a couple more dances she knows first, but then..."  
  
"You're teaching me dances she knows?" Vincent asked.  
  
Tifa gasped. She hoped it wasn't a big one. Damn it, she wasn't supposed to slip like that! Doing the only thing she could, she covered her own stupidity.  
  
"Well, of course! Where else do you think I learned the dances I'm showing you now?" she asked with a slightly nervous laugh. Vincent was too sharp for that to go over with him. She hoped he'd let it pass, though.  
  
He did, but his guard was already up. These people were up to something and it definitely involved him. That meant he had two options: shoot everyone within a three mile radius with his Death Penalty or snoop around. Though the former would be much fun, he didn't want people to call him Sephiroth. The only other thing he'd have to do was burn Kalm to the ground. Sighing, he decided more observations would be best.  
  
"You should teach him to Tango," Cloud said from the doorway, suggestively wiggling his eyebrows at the pair.  
  
"I already know the Tango," Vincent said flatly.  
  
"Who taught you?" Cloud asked, the suggestive tone not leaving his voice whatsoever.  
  
"Yuffie," Vincent said, keeping his voice as monotone as possible.  
  
Tifa made a small coughing sound and shot Cloud a death glare, clearly telling him to shut the hell up. Not wanting his food poisoned, Cloud obeyed.  
  
Many odd looks from Cloud and an hour later, Vincent was finished learning three Wutainese dances, including brushing up on the Tango just to get Cloud to shut up. Tifa almost died laughing when he said he would. Almost. She had to stay alive to dance with Vincent, however.  
  
"One more time?" Tifa asked, pouting at Vincent.  
  
"No," he said flatly, wanting to leave.  
  
"Please?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Please?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Please?"  
  
Vincent sighed. "No."  
  
"Aw, c'mon!"  
  
"No."  
  
A thump came from the right wall and the general direction on the kitchen. Cloud came out, looking surprised to see Vincent still in the house.  
  
"I thought you would have already left," Cloud said to Vincent.  
  
"I'm trying, and before you can ask again," Vincent said, looking at Tifa. "No."  
  
Tifa sighed deeply as Vincent left. "I was hoping I could snag him a little longer so Yuffie could see. No such luck, though. Oh well. It's still working!"  
  
Cloud sighed and returned to the kitchen.  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
Yuffie had disappeared into the basement everyday an hour and a half before lunch, and a half an hour before she went to sleep. Sometimes Vincent thought he heard music down there, but he didn't know what to make of that so he dismissed it for later consideration. The dancing lessons and Yuffie Disappearances had been lasting for a week now.  
  
Vincent had already learned every dance Tifa had told him she would teach him, and he could swear that the woman had gone somewhere to learn more, just to keep him occupied. He had only been in Kalm one week and already he was missing his coffin, if not the nightmares it brought.  
  
A sharp smack across Vincent's backside startled him enough out of his revere. He turned from gazing out the window to look at Yuffie, a stern look on her face. Odd, for someone who had just smacked Vincent's rear end and then thought nothing of it.  
  
"I know that look!" Yuffie snapped at him. "Don't you dare even think it! You are SO not going back to that Mansion, you get me?!"  
  
Vincent smiled, a rare sight for him. But there was this glint in his eye, it was the same glint Tifa wore in the garden that day. Yuffie looked around a little nervously, not sure what to anticipate from him next.  
  
"I promise I won't go back if you tell me what you do in the basement everyday."  
  
Yuffie's eyes widened. Vincent's smile inwardly increased; he could tell she hadn't thought he'd ask that. But, he had her cornered, and she knew it. She obviously didn't want him to go back.  
  
"Well, y'see, ah, there's this festival coming up in Wutai in a couple of weeks, and my dad is making me go, so, ah..."  
  
"So?" Vincent prompted.  
  
Yuffie lowered her gaze. "I was practicing the dances I'll have to do because I'm the only Lady of Wutai at the moment."  
  
Vincent's surprise showed as everything clicked. The lessons that he didn't need, the music in the basement...  
  
Vincent made his decision then and there to go back to Niblehiem. He wouldn't let himself be manipulated like that.  
  
Wordlessly, he headed for the door.  
  
"Vinnie!"  
  
Two steps. Three.  
  
"Vinnie! Please!"  
  
Six. Seven.  
  
"You promised!"  
  
Stopped.  
  
It was true. He had said he promised, hadn't he? Sighing, he turned back around.  
  
"I won't dance with you at the Leviathan Festival."  
  
Yuffie sighed. The section of her heart that housed friendship won over the part of her mind that held manipulation. "Alright," she said softly. "I won't ask you."  
  
And with that, she headed up to her room.  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
"CLOUD!"  
  
Cloud looked up from the cleaning of his sword to a very pissed off Tifa.  
  
"It's not working anymore! We have to do something!"  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
"Vinnie --  
  
I didn't want you to be angry with me. I should have known you wouldn't want to come to the festival. I mean, you're not even Wutainese, so the festival doesn't mean anything to you. I guess what I'm saying is, 'Forgive Me'?  
  
Tifa is having a party for the group in two days. Will you come around one tomorrow to help set up?  
  
-Yuffie K."  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
"Yuffie --  
  
I apologize. I overreacted, when all you wanted was a friend to help you at a home occasion. Please speak to me next time of such matters.  
  
I assume you already know of the party Tifa is hosting. One would be the best time to arrive, assuming Tifa needs help.  
  
-Vincent"  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
"Perfect!" Tifa cried happily, placing the notes accordingly. Yuffie's she placed under her pillow, so she wouldn't find it until it was too late to speak to Vincent about it. Vincent rose early in the morning so Yuffie wouldn't see him until they arrived at Tifa's. Vincent's she placed under his journal. The note "from" Yuffie was written in Cloud's messy scrawl, and Tifa hoped it was close to how Yuffie really wrote. The letter "from" Vincent was written in Tifa's elegant handwriting because she KNEW that was how Vincent wrote. But neither of the two victims knew that, of course.  
  
"It's working!" Tifa cried happily as she left Yuffie's house.  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
Tifa flung the doors of her house wide to see both Vincent and Yuffie there, Yuffie with an embarrassed sort of blush faintly painted on her cheeks and Vincent just looking like Vincent.  
  
"Great! You two can help in the kitchen!" Tifa said, knowing full well that Yuffie couldn't cook but Vincent could.  
  
Without giving the two a chance to speak, Tifa had shoved them both in the kitchen and locked the door from the outside. "Let me know when the food's ready! There's a recipe there on the counter!" Tifa called sweetly from outside the kitchen.  
  
Yuffie and Vincent looked away from each other, Yuffie the first to break the silence.  
  
"I'm sorry, Vinnie," she said softly. "I shouldn't have--"  
  
Vincent shook his head. "I overreacted."  
  
With that simple explanation, Vincent walked over to the counter to examine the recipe. Despite the tension that still existed between the two of them, Yuffie gawked at the recipe.  
  
"Oh, gawd! That's, like, so many steps! How are we even going to finish that thing?"  
  
"It shouldn't be difficult."  
  
"That's easy for you to say! I'm the one who can burn Jell-O!"  
  
Vincent smiled a little at Yuffie. "I'll help you, okay?"  
  
"Okay," Yuffie said dubiously.  
  
"You can make the dips; they should be fairly easy. Here's the recipe," Vincent said, handing Yuffie the small card.  
  
Five minutes later, an explosion came from behind Vincent and he was aware of a blob of sour cream in his hair. He turned to see Yuffie covered in the white goo and trying to look innocent.  
  
"Oops?"  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
After the mess of sour cream and chives had been cleaned up (though Vincent still had some in his hair) it was decided that Vincent should personally instruct Yuffie.  
  
"Alright, you can make the fruit salad," he said to Yuffie.  
  
"Yeesh, this isn't a party Tifa's planning, it's a buffet," Yuffie responded grumpily.  
  
"But a tasty buffet. Just mix the whip cream in with the fruit."  
  
"That's it?" Yuffie asked skeptically.  
  
"That's it," Vincent said with a nod.  
  
Three minutes later, when Vincent turned around from finishing the dips Yuffie had messed up, he sighed.  
  
Yuffie had a grape halfway in her mouth and some whip cream on her nose. Otherwise, she was clean. The salad, however, had at least three cups of whip cream in it, and Vincent now had some of his chest. Yuffie had flung it ("But it was an accident, Vinnie!") at Vincent as soon as he turned around.  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
Tifa opened the door to her kitchen. Without wanting an explanation for the guilty/sheepish looks both Vincent and Yuffie were giving her or the white mess everywhere, or why Vincent and Yuffie were both on the floor and having trouble standing due to slipping too much, she shut the door again. It was time to start praying nothing caught on fire.  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
Yuffie tried vainly to stand, but all the whip cream on the floor made it very difficult. Why had Vincent given her so much of the stuff anyway? You don't need THAT much whip cream just to make a fruit salad, do you? Not that she actually could have made one, but that isn't the point.  
  
Vincent wasn't having any luck standing up either. Tifa's kitchen had been turned purely white. Whip cream out of containers and cans, it didn't matter. It was everywhere.  
  
With an evil smile, Yuffie scooped up a handful of the sweetened cream and threw it at Vincent, hitting his nose dead on. His shocked expression was worth it even if he shot her with Death Penalty.  
  
"Yuffie! Stop it!"  
  
Yuffie stuck her tongue out at him and threw some more.  
  
"Spoilsport!"  
  
Yuffie was attempting to stand once more when a glob of whip cream hit her in the shoulder. She looked at Vincent and flung some more at him.  
  
A solid whip cream fight started.  
  
Yuffie and Vincent had finally managed to stand. Hurling bits of whip cream here and there, Yuffie slid her way across the kitchen, soon followed by Vincent. She nailed his hair right on and he growled at her. Gripping some more whip cream in his hand, he threw it at her, or at least tried to before he slipped.  
  
Yuffie slipped with him.  
  
She wasn't sure exactly what was happening until Vincent was underneath her. Really, really underneath her. The body to body contact made her gasp and inadvertently meet his gaze.  
  
'Wow...his eyes are gorgeous...' Yuffie thought to herself.  
  
'Her eyes are really stormy, now that I get a good look at them...' Vincent thought to himself.  
  
Drifting closer without really meaning to, Yuffie could feel Vincent's breath on her cheek. If you got past all the whip cream, he smelled a little like roses. Mentally, Yuffie snorted. Well, that was typical.  
  
Vincent's eyes widened further as he thought they were going to kiss. They're lips were so close, and she smelled, once you got past the whip cream, like...ginger? Yes, ginger. That was it.  
  
So close, so close. Yuffie only needed to learn forward a little bit more. Her eyes started to close and she let all thought leave her.  
  
"My, my, my. Don't you two work fast? I thought you were supposed to save the whip cream for AFTER you got in bed."  
  
Yuffie shrieked and threw herself off of Vincent, hitting the counter and, because of the whip cream, not being able to keep her footing. She slid to the floor and gazed at the door.  
  
Arms crossed, a very amused Cloud met her gaze.  
  
Yuffie moaned and hid her face in her hands. "Couldn't you have waited a few more minutes to come in here?!" she snapped.  
  
Cloud glanced at Vincent and blinked. Was it just him, or was Vampire Boy blushing a little bit?  
  
Tifa came up behind Cloud, relieved to see that her kitchen was only trashed, not burned down. "So, what did I miss?"  
  
Cloud grinned at her. "It's working better than we thought it would."  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
"Mommy, Mommy, there are two marshmellows walking down the street!"  
  
"That's nice, dear."  
  
"No, really! Come see!" the little girl said, tugging on her mother's hand.  
  
Her mother sighed. "Alright, dear."  
  
There were, indeed, two "marshmellows" walking down the street. Two marshmellows with names. And they were yelling at each other.  
  
"I can't believe you can't even make a fruit salad, Yuffie!"  
  
"Oh, sure, change the subject, Vincent Valentine! You were the one Cloud kicked out! He thought you were molesting me!"  
  
"You made that up!"  
  
"So?!" Yuffie cried, giving Vincent a "playful" shove into the bushes.  
  
He landed with a grunt in the nearby shrubbery as Yuffie took off cackling toward her house, shedding whip cream as she went. Vincent scrambled out of the bushes and tore off after the ninja, having difficulty gaining up.  
  
Yuffie was a lot faster than Vincent had anticipated. She was inside the house and almost had the door shut before he squeezed inside in front of her, trapping her against the door.  
  
Yuffie realized their predicament sooner than Vincent did, and they ended up staring each other in the eye again. No coherent thoughts passed through their brains, none whatsoever.  
  
Yuffie leaned up, Vincent leaned down. This time, there wasn't a Cloud in sight to interrupt them.  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
Tifa eagerly peered into the window. Yuffie and Vincent were about to kiss! This was great! She had been sorely tempted to beat Cloud senseless for walking in on them, but that didn't matter. Yuffie and Vincent were slathered in whip cream and were about to kiss...Tifa sighed, wishing her first kiss had been like that. It really would have been so fun.  
  
Trying to lean forward, her knee slipped from the rock it was perched on and whacked against the side of the house with a thump.  
  
"Shit!"  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
Vincent and Yuffie jumped back as a thump and curse was heard outside Yuffie's window. Opening the door and stepping outside, Yuffie saw Tifa rubbing her knee and muttering something like "It was working, too!"  
  
"Tifa?" Vincent asked with a raised eyebrow, coming up behind Yuffie.  
  
"Shut up and kiss each other!" she snapped.  
  
"What?" Yuffie asked, clearly surprised.  
  
"You two are such blockheads! You know you want to, so kiss him, Yuffie!" Tifa exclaimed grumpily, still rubbing her knee.  
  
"Tifa!" Yuffie scolded, desperately fighting to keep the blush down.  
  
"Argh! Do it or I'll beat you two til you don't remember your names!"  
  
Yuffie and Vincent blinked. Neither of them had expected Tifa to threaten them if they didn't kiss. They looked at each other, eyebrows raised, as if to say, "Riiight."  
  
"Fine, but if I do, will you go away?" Yuffie demanded, surprising Vincent.  
  
Tifa beamed. "Yup!"  
  
Yuffie sighed, hoping Tifa hadn't just tricked her. Oh well, two could play at that game! She was Yuffie Kisaragi, and she'd be damned if she couldn't weasel a loophole out of their current situation.  
  
Smiling, she stood on her toes and pressed her lips to Vincent's cheek.  
  
Tifa's eyes widened. "Cheater!"  
  
Yuffie smiled brightly at her. "Uh huh. You should have known better than to threaten a ninja, isn't that right Vinnie?"  
  
Vincent nodded slowly. "Sure," he said.  
  
Yuffie and Vincent both entered the house together, leaving an even more grumpy Tifa on their doorstep.  
  
Yuffie looked at Vincent awkwardly. "Well, I guess I'd, uh...better go take a shower, huh?"  
  
"Yes," Vincent said slowly, unsure of how this was going.  
  
Yuffie nodded and headed upstairs.  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
Vincent sat in his room which was, unfortunately for him, across from the bathroom. With the water running rhythmically and the knowledge of who was in that shower, Vincent couldn't get his mind to focus on his journal. He was still covered in whip cream since Yuffie only had one shower.  
  
Thinking as hard as he could, Vincent finally got his mind back on track. It was difficult, but he had done it.  
  
Yuffie started singing.  
  
Vincent's eyes widened as he heard the sweet Wutainese song drift through both doors to reach his ears. Damn it, he SO did not need this at the moment.  
  
"Embrasse moi  
  
Combles tous mes sens  
  
Quand la nuit s'approche  
  
Alors, ma vie commence  
  
Embrasse moi  
  
Tout proche dans tes bras  
  
L'amour m'envahi  
  
Comme une vague sauvage..."  
  
Finally, the words changed to the common tongue most people across the world used.  
  
"There's nothing like this  
  
Under the covers  
  
There's nothing like this  
  
You take me over..."  
  
Vincent's eyes widened. 'Shut up, Yuffie!' he mentally screamed. He REALLY didn't need to be hearing that, now did he? But Yuffie wasn't done singing, and that didn't help any.  
  
"You fly me up,  
  
So close to heaven  
  
You fly me up,  
  
You're the only one...  
  
You fly me up,  
  
So close to heaven  
  
You fly me up,  
  
You're the only one..."  
  
Vincent sighed as her voice stopped. It was truly a beautiful song, with a light beat that held seductive undertones to the lyrics, if not the tone. It was the seductive undertones that bothered him. Struggling to get the song out of his head, he didn't realize it when Yuffie started singing again in Wutainese.  
  
"Embrasse moi  
  
Etouffe tous les sons  
  
Avec un murmure  
  
Oui, tu me rends folle  
  
Embrasse moi  
  
Je vois les etoiles  
  
Emmenes-moi  
  
Au paradis  
  
There's nothing like this  
  
Under the covers  
  
There's nothing like this  
  
You take me over...  
  
You fly me up,  
  
So close to heaven  
  
You fly me up,  
  
You're the only one  
  
You fly me up,  
  
So close to heaven  
  
You fly me up,  
  
You're the only one...  
  
You're the only one..."  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
Vincent sighed as he stepped out of the shower. It was nice to not have whip cream all over him anymore, but he had to admit, it had been fun.  
  
A sharp rapping came on the bathroom door.  
  
"Vinnie, can I come in? I need my toothpaste."  
  
Vincent raised an eyebrow. Why would she need her toothpaste? So far as he knew, she had already brushed her teeth.  
  
"Sure."  
  
Yuffie walked in and closed the door behind her without even looking up. When she did look up, though, she squeaked.  
  
Vincent was only in a towel and was blissfully unaware of that fact.  
  
"What?" he asked innocently, if that was possible for Vincent Valentine.  
  
"N-Nothing," Yuffie stammered as she went to get her toothpaste off the counter.  
  
"Yuffie..."  
  
"Yeah?" she asked, turning.  
  
"Sorry about before, and then, before that, and..."  
  
Yuffie smiled. "Don't worry about it, okay Vinnie?"  
  
He nodded slowly and kissed her cheek, making her blush a lovely little shade of vermilion. Vincent's present state of undress wasn't helping, either. Seeing midnight hair again ivory skin against black towel was NOT improving her state of mind. Her sanity was shaken enough just from him almost kissing her, and then actually kissing her.  
  
It was then that Yuffie Kisaragi made a decision.  
  
She decided that staying in that bathroom one more second with a half naked man that was somewhat of a Greek God was not good for her health.  
  
"Okay, then!" she said brightly and left as fast as she could.  
  
When Yuffie got down to the kitchen, she couldn't remember at all why she had wanted her toothpaste to start with.  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
Sipping on her chai tea, Yuffie realized that there was only thirteen days before the festival, and she needed three of those days to travel to Wutai, an extra day to get properly dressed in Wutai, and one more day for the party (which was starting in about an hour). That left her eight days to try and convince Vincent, without and trickery whatsoever, to come and dance with her at the Leviathan Celebration.  
  
She prayed he'd agree.  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
"'Sup, brat?!" Barret cried with a grin, crushing Yuffie in a bear hug and reducing all her organs to the size of a pea.  
  
"B-Barret...n-nice to see you!" she choked out. "A-Air, please, Barret?"  
  
Barret dropped her in an instant and scratched the back of his head with his good arm. "Ah, right, sorry about that Yuffs!"  
  
Yuffie chuckled. Yuffs? She'd never been called that before.  
  
For the third time that day, she caught Vincent looking at her.  
  
Tifa was the next to get the Barret Hug of Death. Yuffie couldn't help but pity the girl; Yuffie herself was still having problems breathing properly. Barret even hugged Cloud, rambling on about "Yo spikey headed ass needs some company over here!" Yuffie wasn't the only one who laughed.  
  
The party went as expected. Everyone spoke of things that hadn't been discuss in a month or so, new updates and such. Barret's new home had finally been completed, and Marlene couldn't stop talking about "this BIG doll house daddy made me!" Cid was nervous and fidgety the entire time. Yuffie kept winking at him and that only made him worse. But she knew why he was so nervous: he wanted to propose to Shera. Yuffie didn't know when, but definitely soon.  
  
Red would soon be old enough to be Guardian of Cosmo Canyon. Well, he had another fifty years to go, but still. Compared to five hundred?  
  
Reeve was working on animating Cait Sith to run on his own, with his own personality. Barret loudly told the group that he hoped it wasn't like either Yuffie or Vincent; Yuffie was too Yuffie and no one needed to find a stuffed mog inside of a coffin. Yuffie laughed the loudest at that last part, knowing how true it was. She was still giggling even late into the night.  
  
The toast at dinner was for Aeris. Surprisingly, it wasn't Cloud who brought it up, but Tifa. Everyone gave a hearty "Here, here!" before downing their wine in one gulp. Needless to say, everyone was a little tipsy that night, save Red and Vincent. Well, Tifa was smart enough to stay fairly sober. Cid, however, was absolutely hammered. Yuffie...was a bit worse than hammered. She was positively plastered flat and upside down up against a wall and drooling.  
  
When the party was coming to a close and Yuffie was taking it upon herself to reveal what kind of underwear Vincent wore, he decided that it was time to go home. Since Yuffie couldn't even walk, he scooped her easily into his arms, apologizing to the rest of the group for leaving early.  
  
Yuffie giggled at Vincent's neck the entire way back to her house. He sighed, thinking how alcohol should be made illegal for ninjas.  
  
When he finally was safely inside the house and upstairs, he gently lowered Yuffie into her bed and turned to leave. A fierce grip on his belt loop and one hard yank later, he was laying on the bed next to Yuffie (or, rather, a little bit under her) with her fists pounding on his chest.  
  
"Don't leave me, Vinnie!" she cried when she had stopped punching him. For once, he was glad she was drunk. If she'd been sober, those punches would have hurt.  
  
"Why not?" he asked gently. Wrong thing to say, he realized too late.  
  
It started with a sniffle and dissolved into hysterics.  
  
"The...the...the clowns will eat me!" Yuffie cried, sobbing into Vincent's shirt.  
  
"Uh, Yuffie..."  
  
"THEY'LL EAT ME!"  
  
Vincent winced. Her voice was rather close to his ear.  
  
"Alright," Vincent said, a bit hesitantly. "I won't leave you."  
  
Yuffie hiccuped and snuggled up, willy nilly, a bit closer than Vincent would have liked. Before he could do anything, she had passed out, her head resting on his shoulder and her breath tickling his neck. He sighed and pulled the blanket across both of them, settling down for a little shut eye himself.  
  
He sent a prayer to Leviathan before he went to sleep that no one walked in and found them like this.  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
Three days. Only three days until she had to leave for Wutai. And Vincent still hadn't agreed to dance with her yet.  
  
Yuffie Kisaragi had to work fast.  
  
So, Yuffie Kisaragi devised a plan.  
  
As she went down to practice dancing, she "accidentally" left the basement door open and the music on a little louder than usual, and she "just happened" to begin right as Vincent came home.  
  
She pushed the play button the second she heard the door open.  
  
Vincent wandered down to where the basement door was open only to be greeted with the sight of Yuffie gracefully moving in circles on her toes the very same dance Tifa had worked the hardest on with him.  
  
Her fingers snapping in time with the music and certain instruments, Yuffie looked to be the embodiment of grace. Without thinking, Vincent stepped forward and tapped her on the shoulder.  
  
Yuffie turned, actually looking surprised. She hadn't expected him to interrupt.  
  
"May I join you?" Vincent asked smoothly, offering a small smile.  
  
Yuffie's surprise grew before she nodded. Vincent took her hand and place his claw on her hip and they began the teasing dance. The music infiltrated throughout the basement even more so than it had before.  
  
When the dance was finished, neither left the other's embrace.  
  
Yuffie leaned up, and Vincent leaned down.  
  
Neither Cloud nor Tifa were there to stop them this time.  
  
Lips brushed briefly before the kiss became forceful and rough. Each wanted more and was willing to give even more than what they wanted.  
  
Yuffie's eyes slid shut at the feel of his tongue flicking against her lips evanescently. She parted her lips hesitantly, not sure if that was what he was asking for or not. She got her answer when their tongues met tauntingly.  
  
Yuffie moved one arm around his shoulder but kept her other hand twined tightly in his. He fully explored the inside of her mouth, everything about her flooding his senses wildly. She smelled like ginger but tasted like vanilla. Yuffie was having similar effects, Vincent smelling like roses and tasted like the wine she drank at the party the night she got drunk.  
  
Fleetingly, she hoped he wasn't plastered.  
  
When neither Vincent or Yuffie could breathe, they reluctantly pulled apart, having to satisfy themselves with looking into each others eyes. Yuffie sighed and brought herself closer, resting her hair in the crook of his neck.  
  
"Whoa," Yuffie said after a minute, causing a chuckle from Vincent.  
  
"My thoughts exactly."  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
"TIFA! YUFFIE SLEPT WITH THE VAMPIRE!"  
  
Yuffie groggily awoke, aware of Vincent beneath her and Cloud yelling for Tifa at the bedroom door. As Cloud's words registered, her eyes widened a little. She had slept with Vincent, sure, but she didn't SLEEP with him. Not that kind of sleep. What was Cloud talking about?  
  
Tifa walked in and gasped.  
  
Vincent was awake by now. Yuffie sat up to protest that they hadn't actually done anything last night, only to feel a draft. And realize that her chest was bare.  
  
Very bare.  
  
Yuffie let out a scream as everyone in the room but Tifa ogled her. Pulling the sheet up defiantly, Yuffie yelled at no one in particular, "Where the hell is my bra?!"  
  
Cloud fell to the floor laughing, and somehow Yuffie suspected he had everything to do with it.  
  
Yuffie stood, proving that they didn't sleep together when she still had her shorts on and Vincent still clothed, minus his shirt. Oh well, the pants were what counted anyway, right?  
  
Cloud knew he would get beaten to death for it later, but he did it anyway. He held up Yuffie's bra in his right hand and defended himself from Tifa with his left. Giving an inhuman howl, Yuffie launched herself at Cloud to retrieve the stolen (and vital) garment.  
  
"OUT!" was all Yuffie could say. However, what she really wanted to say was "All Creation" or "Ultimate End" or something equally as painful, but these were her friends. Besides, Tifa would beat Cloud to death later anyway.  
  
Tifa kicked a laughing Cloud out of the room, down the stairs and out the front door. Yuffie sighed as Vincent came and wrapped his arms around her waist. She sighed longingly.  
  
"Vinnie, you gotta at least turn around."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Uh, I am kinda bare up front, ya know?"  
  
Vincent blinked and gave what could only be a blush. "Oh, right. Sorry."  
  
Once her front was safe from prying eyes, she turned back around to Vincent.  
  
"Say, how about another kiss?"  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
Needless to say, Vincent agreed to help with the dance.  
  
However, Yuffie insisted on taking a shower before they left. She said that the showers on boats "Absolutely suck! Like, grossness!"  
  
Vincent took the time while she was showering to pack his things. This, however, put him in the same position he had been many days before. Right across from the bathroom, with Yuffie in the shower.  
  
Only this time, her song had changed. At least it wasn't so suggestive; Vincent's mind would be everywhere but where it should be on the trip to Wutai.  
  
"Ooh, it's so good, it's so good  
  
It's so good, it's so good  
  
"Ooh, heaven knows, heaven knows  
  
Heaven knows, heaven knows  
  
"Ooh, I feel love, I feel love  
  
I feel love, I feel love  
  
"I feel love, I feel love  
  
"Ooh, falling free, falling free  
  
Falling free, falling free  
  
"Ooh, you and me, you and me  
  
You and me, you and me  
  
"Ooh, I feel love, I feel love  
  
I feel love, I feel love  
  
"I feel love, I feel love..."  
  
Vincent felt different, this time, as he listened to her song. It really felt like she was singing about him, and it made him happy. Very happy. For the first time in at least twenty years, he felt truly happy.  
  
When Yuffie came out of the shower wrapped in a towel into the room, she was confused and pleased to be embraced and kissed until her oxygen deprived limbs might drop her towel. Vincent kissed her again, nipping at her lower lip. She sighed contentedly, forgetting about the towel for a moment.  
  
Which was, of course, very stupid.  
  
The towel dropped to the floor, leaving a very naked Yuffie with onto one place Vincent couldn't see her: further into his arms. She further she dove, clutching at his shirt like there was no tomorrow. Desperately trying to bring the towel up with her feet, Vincent's hand on her shoulder stopped her. Yuffie looked up into his scarlet eyes and smiled.  
  
Vincent smiled back, and he kissed her til she was breathless again. The towel was forgotten until Vincent had decided to stop making Yuffie swoon. When she caught her breath, Yuffie quickly wrapped herself in the towel and left to finish packing.  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
Vincent, as the official partner of the Lady of Wutai, half kneeled while still on his feet in the center of the circle of Wutainese people. There he waited, one hand on the ground in front of him slightly supporting his weight, for his dancing partner to arrive.  
  
Arrive she did. Vincent's breath caught as he saw her; he didn't think even Tifa or Aeris could have looked like Yuffie did. Her hair held red beads that seemed to be everywhere, her robe a short black kimono that stopped an inch or so above the knee, lined in red, to match Vincent. Her feet were bare but her right foot had a strip of red cloth wrapped around it. Symbolic, mainly. Yuffie's mother had worn the same tie around her left foot, but since Yuffie wasn't yet married, she wore it on her right.  
  
As Yuffie met him, he stood, and that in itself was the cue for the dance to begin.  
  
The chords begun, and Yuffie circled Vincent just as Vincent circled her. The dance gradually let everything else meld into nothing; all that was there were the two of them. When the music brought their bodies closer, Vincent brushed his lips against Yuffie's lightly, and she smiled.  
  
The dance ended before it had even begun. All the other dancers bowed to Yuffie and Vincent just as Yuffie and Vincent bowed to each other.  
  
Yuffie walked up to Vincent to give him a hug, and whispered in his ear:  
  
"You know what this means, don't you?"  
  
Vincent didn't like the sound of her voice. It had that old Yuffie tone to it.  
  
"No...what?"  
  
Yuffie threw herself from him and made her way over to the tables of food, dragging him with her. Dabbing some whip cream on his nose with a smile, Vincent got his answer.  
  
"PARTY!"  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
Yuffie groaned as she woke up, once again at her home in Kalm. Her head screamed at her and her stomach threatened to give greetings to her tonsils.  
  
Yuffie had a hangover.  
  
Vincent came into the bedroom, feet padding silently on the carpeted floors, bringing Yuffie a glass of water that looked a little green.  
  
"Do you have to walk to damned loud, Vinnie?"  
  
Vincent would have chuckled if he didn't think Yuffie would put her Conformer through him at the noise. "Sorry," he said instead and handed her the glass. "Drink this all at once."  
  
She did as she was told and tried not to throw the foul stuff up. Hangover cures were awful and miraculous at the same time.  
  
Sighing in relief as her headache dissipated, she pulled Vincent into bed next to her. He chuckled and wrapped his arms around her waist.  
  
"Let's slaughter Cloud and Tifa today, alright?"  
  
Vincent chuckled. "Sounds like a plan to me."  
  
  
  
~fin~  
  
  
  
A/N3: I might write more on this, but I really wanted to get this posted.  
  
* = Translation: ran at the speed of light with Yuffie desperately clinging, cursing and repeatedly yelling something that sounded suspiciously like "Vinnie raised a nifty chocobo!"  
  
** = Been dragged by 


	2. What Else Do I Need

Tequila Mockingbird  
  
part II - What Else Do I Need  
  
  
  
-----  
  
A/N: Six reviews! *cheers* Thank you sabacat, Kittie Gurl, Anya, Reese, Kupo and Sick Little Fiend. This chapter is dedicated to you six. ^_^  
  
A/N2: The song What Else Do I Need by Vast swears a bit more vulgarly than normal. Let me know if I should change the rating of the story, alright? I think 13 year olds can handle the language, though. ^^  
  
A/N3: I am trying desperately to make my story sound original. I apologize if it's not! I've read to many Yuffentines they tend to mesh together in my brain....-_- This chapter is also around 4k words shorter than the first. Oh well. I need to think of where this story is going to go anyway.  
  
Disclaimer: Flames and What Else Do I Need are both songs by Vast.  
  
Disclaimer2: Square still owns FF7 and Vincent. *sighs* I want one...  
  
___  
  
  
  
One water logged foot bravely planted itself into the mud, and another soon followed one step ahead. Advancing slowly, Yuffie Kisaragi made her way to the funeral pyre.  
  
Her heart a deadweight in her chest and her brain whirling on a speed that bordered on insanity, she continued her way to pay her final respects to her father, Godo of Wutai.  
  
Her friends stood behind her in a small semi circle, Vincent especially wanting to walk forward and just wrap his arms around her, letting her know that all wasn't gone. Yuffie, however, wouldn't have listened. Godo had been the only thing she cared for before AVALANCHE, and Vincent understood more than anything that time didn't heal all wounds, and some were just left to fester.  
  
The rain mixing with her tears, Yuffie's hands spread wide as she concentrated on her connection with the green materia orb dangling on a silver chain from one ear. As she thrust her hands forward with all the power the materia could muster, she alighted the pyre, along with her father's body, into flames.  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
Yuffie hadn't come out of her room for three days.  
  
Needless to say, Cloud and Vincent were worried and Tifa was going crazy. The happy go lucky girl they once knew had receded into the shadows of her own loneliness. Tifa and Cloud weren't sure why she had disappeared into herself so much, but Vincent knew. Yuffie loved Godo just as much as she hated the man.  
  
Vincent was the only one Yuffie would open her door for, and even then, she wouldn't leave.  
  
After Cloud and Tifa had left Yuffie's house to go back to their own, Vincent made his way up the stairs into Yuffie's room. Vincent's heart ached to see her like she was; most of the time she just stared out her window.  
  
Yuffie had given Vincent something even Lucrecia couldn't. She'd given him a light at the end of the tunnel, something to look forward to despite the demons inside of him and the monstrous body he'd been given.  
  
And Vincent was falling in love with her.  
  
He continued to try and stop it, but it wasn't working. He had kissed her, yes, and she had kissed him, yes. But love was a different matter. When you loved, you didn't plan to lose. Love bares your heart for the world to see, and the world can tear it out just as easily. As much as Vincent wanted to, denying seemed to be pointless.  
  
Reaching out with his claw he slowly turned the knob into Yuffie's bedroom door. The others couldn't understand, but Vincent knew. He knew what happened to a person when one you truly love was ripped from your life. She hadn't lost a lover, that was true, but it didn't matter. She had loved Godo, and suddenly, he was gone.  
  
Yuffie was like she had been for the past seventy two hours, staring out the window as the rain fell. Vincent approached her and wrapped his arms around her waist, pressing her weakened form against him.  
  
"What's the point in living, Vinnie?" Yuffie asked softly. "I'm not needed. The world doesn't need me. Why should I stay?"  
  
Her statement wasn't the threat of someone about to take their own life; it was merely a question in search of an answer.  
  
"To the world you are only one person, but to one person you are the world."  
  
Yuffie's head raised. What did Vincent mean by that? She turned around in his embrace, facing him with a questioning look.  
  
"Vinnie, what...?"  
  
Vincent kissed her, just a mesh of lip again lips. There was passion in the kiss, but he didn't ask for entry. All he wanted was to emphasize his statement. She'd have to learn on her own what it meant.  
  
Yuffie increased the kiss, wanting badly to forget everything and only have him.  
  
-Close your eyes  
  
Let me touch you know  
  
Let me give you something that is real-  
  
Without warning, they started to move, gravitating toward some unseen force, most likely each other.  
  
-Close the door  
  
Leave your fears behind  
  
Let me give you  
  
What you're giving me-  
  
"You know, Vinnie?" Yuffie asked, pulling away briefly and staring into his eyes. "I think I'm falling for you."  
  
-You are the only thing  
  
That makes me want to live at all  
  
When I am with you  
  
There's no reason to pretend-  
  
Vincent steadily returned the gaze. She never flinched from his crimson stare; she never had. "I've already fallen for you."  
  
Yuffie's eyes widened. She hadn't expected that response. Was Vincent saying that he loved her? No one had ever told her that before, except her mother. And this...would be a different kind of love, one Yuffie had never had before.  
  
-That when I am with you  
  
I feel flames again-  
  
The gravity in the room started to pull them to the bed. Neither Yuffie or Vincent could tell, and if they could, they wouldn't have objected in the least.  
  
-Just put me inside you  
  
I would never ever leave-  
  
"Are you saying, that...?" Yuffie began.  
  
Vincent nodded roughly and brought his lips to hers again, his right hand in her hair while his claw supported her back.  
  
-Just put me inside you  
  
I would never ever leave you-  
  
"I love you, Yuffie Kisaragi."  
  
Any response on her part was muffled by his lips again. Her heart had finally regained some light, with the simple knowledge that she was loved, that she was needed. And she didn't want the love to stop, ever.  
  
"Don't leave me," Yuffie murmured into Vincent's hair.  
  
Forgetting seemed to be the objective for the moment. They were there to ease the others pain, and nothing else mattered. "I promise," was all Vincent said before leading her in a trail of kisses toward salvation.  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
"Aieeee!"  
  
The scream was heard throughout Kalm and brought Tifa and Cloud out of their solitude in the garden. Dashing around the house, Tifa and Cloud arrived to see Yuffie on top of Luna, Cloud's new, improved and very temperamental green chocobo.  
  
Tifa's eyes widened. She hadn't seen Yuffie outside her room in four days. For her to be outside AND visiting the chocobo stables...  
  
"Vinnie, MOVE!"  
  
Vincent dove out of the way before Luna could go through him. Yuffie, while still trying to maintain control of the chocobo, leaned her weight to the left, turning out of the way.  
  
Cloud whistled and Luna came trotting happily over. Yuffie jumped off and beamed at the pair.  
  
"Mornin'!" she said cheerfully before hopping over to Vincent to make sure he didn't have a chocobo feather in his head or something.  
  
Tifa and Cloud followed her, Cloud looking at her oddly. "Who are you and what did you do with Yuffie?" he asked.  
  
"Or who were you and what brought Yuffie back?" Tifa said with a grin.  
  
Yuffie looked sheepish but managed to avoid the question. If Cloud or Tifa accidentally told Cid or Barret what had happened, Yuffie was worried Vincent would need more than the Death Penalty to save his skin.  
  
"Um, I'll take Luna back to the stables for you!" Yuffie said before snatching the reins from Cloud and dashing off, tossing Vincent a look that said "I'd hate to be you right now".  
  
"Traitor!" Vincent called to her retreating back. "Leaving me here...hmph."  
  
Tifa turned to Vincent. "What did you do to that girl?"  
  
Vincent blushed and muttered something under his breath. Unfortunately for him, Cloud heart it.  
  
"You did WHAT!"  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
Vincent awoke to find the rays of sunlight seeping through Yuffie's window directly on the bed. He hadn't known how Yuffie got up with the sun everyday, and he kicked himself for overlooking such an obvious answer.  
  
He started to shift, his back aching uncomfortably from where Cloud had hit him. He wasn't sure if the hit had been a "Congratulations!" or "I'm gonna pound your ass!". Either way, it was painful.  
  
Yuffie wrapped her arms around him and squeezed til he thought he didn't have any organs left. When he turned, she was still asleep. Giving a small smile, Vincent rolled back over and wrapped his arms around her, not wanting to get up. His room had been much, much darker than hers...maybe he could convince her to change rooms.  
  
Yuffie blinked sleepily and smiled when she saw Vincent.  
  
"You're here," she said, obviously stating the obvious.  
  
"Where else would I go?"  
  
"I don't know, your room, maybe?"  
  
Vincent chuckled a little and shifted his head closer to hers against the pillow. "No. I promised I'd stay with you, remember?"  
  
Yuffie nodded. "I remember."  
  
With that she kissed him hard, but it was quick. She dashed out of bed and, not wanting to flash all of Kalm through the window, threw on a robe and ran downstairs, calling something that chilled Vincent to the bone.  
  
"I'll make breakfast!"  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
Having dowsed the fire that started in the kitchen before Vincent could get there, he and Yuffie made their way over to Tifa's house. When the woman opened the door, Yuffie gave a sheepish look when Vincent glared at her.  
  
"Can we, uh, come over for breakfast?" Yuffie asked, conveniently leaving out the details. Vincent, however, wasn't going to be quite so nice.  
  
"She caught our kitchen on fire."  
  
Tifa tried to stifle a giggled as she let them in. "Sure. Do omelets sound alright?"  
  
"Yeah!" Yuffie said right as Vincent said "Fine."  
  
They sat down in the kitchen, Cloud giving the pair puzzled looks and Tifa sidelong glances. Tifa cooked the omelets quickly and set them on the table. Even when they were half way done eating, and Vincent was half way done glaring at Yuffie for catching the kitchen on fire, the silence remained.  
  
Cloud turned to clear his plate and Tifa's eyes followed him. With the other two occupied, a bit of cheese found it's way into Vincent's hair.  
  
"Yuffie!" Vincent cried, picking the said food out of his hair.  
  
"What?" she asked innocently, chewing on a bit of toast.  
  
Tifa and Cloud's eyes were now on the two, looking back and forth between them. Yuffie giggled when they turned away again and flicked some more food at Vincent.  
  
"That's it!" he cried and slung some of his own omelet at Yuffie, decking Cloud with a little bit in the process.  
  
Cloud, aghast, retaliated.  
  
Tifa sighed and realized she should never after let Yuffie and Vincent into her kitchen, especially not after what happened with the fruit salad.  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
"I cannot believe Tifa kicked us out for a second time!"  
  
"Oh, come on, Vinnie, it's not like it's my fault," Yuffie said, flicking a bit of toast off her shoulder.  
  
"It is too! You started it."  
  
"That is absolutely beside the point."  
  
"It is the point."  
  
"Is not."  
  
"Is too."  
  
"Is not!"  
  
Tifa sighed from the doorway of her house. "Children," she said, shaking her head.  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
Yuffie sighed as the hot water rolled down her body. She had gotten them kicked out of Tifa's house for a second time since she'd brought Vincent to Kalm. It figured, really. He was just so fun to egg on, no pun intended.  
  
Yuffie squeaked as she felt hands on her shoulders and lips brush the back of her neck. She turned to face Vincent.  
  
"Hope you don't mind if I join you," he said sheepishly.  
  
She chuckled and flicked some soap suds at him. "Not at all, my little vampire."  
  
"I am not a vampire!"  
  
Yuffie sniffed. "You might as well be."  
  
"I'm not even going to ask why you said that."  
  
"Good. Now come over here so I can wash your hair."  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
Chips of wood flew soundlessly off the tree. One second the tree was whole and unharmed; the next, a deep groove was in it. One couldn't even see how the gash had appeared, or the source. All one could know was that the tree was being injured from afar, and the assailant was skilled.  
  
Yuffie Kisaragi threw, slashed and otherwise danced around her shuriken. And if a tree happened to get in her way, well, that was it's problem. If Tifa happened to get in the way, well, that was Yuffie's problem. Big problem. Who, that was sane, actually wanted a pissed off Tifa and a vengeful Cloud coming after them? Yuffie wasn't THAT stupid.  
  
Snatching her shuriken from the air, she stopped throwing and began her ninja exercises, which looked more like a dance of Leviathan himself that a sweaty and grueling practice. Turning and flipped, every muscle in her body flexed and strained. It felt wonderful.  
  
An appreciative whistle was heard from behind Yuffie. She turned, expecting to see Cloud or possibly (but unlikely) Vincent, but instead Tifa was there with a silly grin plastered on her face.  
  
"Those are neat! Could you teach me how to do that?"  
  
Yuffie nodded, struggling to catch her breath. "Sure, Teef. You might want a shuriken, though. As strange as it is, shuriken's weight balances yours in the turns. I should teach you how to use one first, even if it's just the basics."  
  
Tifa started to speak, but Yuffie cut her off with one word.  
  
"BUT!"  
  
Tifa got a sinking feeling in her gut. She didn't like the look in Yuffie's eyes.  
  
"Teach me how to use my fists. I know the basics, but not enough to be useful against someone who knows what they're doing."  
  
Tifa nodded in relief. She expected something like a Knight of the Round materia. 'I got off really light this time. At least I don't have to hunt down Quadra magic from Cloud or anything just as crazy.'  
  
Tifa nodded. 'Deal," she said, producing her gloved hand for Yuffie to shake. Yuffie took it with a smile and flipped Tifa upside down and pointed her Conformer at Tifa's throat.  
  
"From now on," Yuffie began. "I am your enemy. Until we leave this glade, slice me, dice me, and otherwise tickle me to death, but know that you are not my friend." Yuffie pulled her 4-point Shuriken out of her pack while keeping Tifa at the mercy of the Conformer. She tossed the older shuriken onto Tifa's stomach. "Use that. Until you know the hang of it, I won't teach you the techniques."  
  
Yuffie stood and backed away. Holding her Conformer at the ready by cradling her right arm in the circle of her left, she walked in small circles around Tifa while she stood. When it became obvious the martial artist was looking, Yuffie slashed. Tifa blocked weakly but realized the weight of the shuriken turned away from the blow it had just blocked. With a grim look on her face, she adjusted the weight and waited for Yuffie to take another swing.  
  
Yuffie was pleased. Tifa caught on quickly to the use of weaponry for someone who relied solidly on her fists. Backing all her weight up into the throw, Yuffie hurled her shuriken at Tifa; the girl blocked a bit stronger this time, but on of the sharper edges had grazed her cheek in the throw and small rivulets of blood seeped out. Tifa wiped the blood away and decided to take her own throw.  
  
Yuffie blocked easily and knocked the shuriken back towards Tifa. She caught it, but her weight overbalanced slightly. It was obvious Tifa was not accustomed to weaponry, or she wouldn't have leaned a little to the side in an effort to catch the shuriken. Yuffie was at her side in a flash and had her Conformer pressed against Tifa's ribcage. Yuffie grinned up at her.  
  
"You're really good, you know? I didn't expect you to attack me after only two attacks on my part. You learn the balance quickly, even if you did give me an opening here. For this catch, pivot more to your left before trying to catch it, or your enemy can slice your ribcage in two. Watch shoulder and chest muscles to give away the enemies next move, but of course, you knew that already. The muscles are move visible when using a shuriken, so you shouldn't have a problem there. Got it?"  
  
Tifa smiled. "I think so."  
  
Yuffie nodded and tossed her Conformer to the ground. "I'll teach you, you teach me. Let's do some hand to hand now, shall we?"  
  
Tifa smirked and let the 4-point shuriken fall next to Yuffie's Conformer. "From this moment on, I am your enemy. I will try to breach your walls, shatter your defenses. And I'll do it with my own two hands, damn it."  
  
Yuffie giggled a little bit and nodded. "Damn those ninnies who use weapons. Lazy bums."  
  
Tifa nodded and gave a laugh. "That's right. You want something done, do it yourself. Now. Come on and hit me."  
  
Yuffie stretched her muscles and balled her fists, holding them almost exactly the way Rude had at their last showdown in Midgar. That is, when there still was a Midgar.  
  
She dashed forward and her ninja reflexes came into play. She launched a full fist assault at Tifa's stomach, and when Tifa was shifting to block, placed a well aimed kick and Tifa's rear end. The taller girl took the blow but whirled on Yuffie, hammering her in the ribs with her gloved fist. Yuffie flew on the ground a good six feet away, struggling to stand.  
  
"Never kick someone in the ass," Tifa advised. "You just might piss someone off enough to let them kill you. Attacking out of anger and hatred will get you killed, but blind rage can be dangerous. They tend to know what they're doing without knowing it, if you get my meaning. They're berserks, and you never know what will set them off."  
  
Yuffie nodded and struggled to stand, coughing a little. She liked the way Tifa trained. The other girl truly was Yuffie's enemy for the time being, and Tifa wasn't afraid to hurt her. Yuffie had been worried she'd be soft because they were friends.  
  
When she had regained her footing again, she waited for Tifa to come to her. She did, and Yuffie parried, gauging the way Tifa's muscles shifted in anticipation of the next attack. Tifa's right shoulder flexed more than Tifa had intended it to; Yuffie ducked left and her fist solidly connected with Tifa's stomach.  
  
Tifa backed up and tried to regain the wind that had left her, holding up her hand to signal a temporary truce. "You're not too bad yourself, Yuffie," she said with a grin.  
  
Yuffie smiled. "Quit for today?"  
  
Tifa nodded and, after picking up Yuffie's weapons, they left the glade. Vincent and Cloud met them at the exit (or entrance) to the glade, a small path that led into the forests. Or, small patch of trees. There really weren't any forests around Kalm.  
  
"Tifa! Are you alright?" Cloud asked, noticing the blood that smeared Tifa's right cheek. Tifa smiled at him.  
  
"Fine, Cloud. We were just training."  
  
"Fists don't do that!" Cloud protested.  
  
"Shurikens do," Vincent said quietly. "Am I right?"  
  
Yuffie nodded sheepishly.  
  
"She doesn't know how to use one of those!" Cloud said, glaring a little at Yuffie.  
  
"I can learn," Tifa said defensively. "Besides, I knocked her half way across the glade."  
  
Yuffie reacted immediately to the obvious pride in the last statement. She snorted. "You wouldn't have been able to if I hadn't let my guard down! Besides, that punch didn't even hurt!"  
  
Tifa poked Yuffie in the ribs where she had been punched. Yuffie cried out and fell to her knee, scowling at Tifa.  
  
"TIFA! WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO, FRIGGIN KILL ME?!"  
  
Vincent chuckled before helping Yuffie up. He doubted she would even bruise and Yuffie was probably overreacting. When he wrapped his claw around her to walk her home and she gave an involuntary gasp, he realized the wound was bad and she had indeed been overreacting, but that was to cover up the initial pain.  
  
"Tifa, if you killed me, make sure Vinnie doesn't get the content of my underwear drawer."  
  
Tifa burst out laughing while Cloud tried to hide chuckles while Vincent looked ready to hit Yuffie.  
  
"Did you have to say that?" he hissed.  
  
"Oh, come on, Vinnie, just because it's a--"  
  
Vincent clamped a hand over her mouth and Tifa laughed even harder.  
  
"I don't even want to know," Cloud said with a grin.  
  
Yuffie shook her head and said something but it was lost in the restrictions of Vincent's hand.  
  
"C'mon, Yuffie, let's go home," Vincent said, not trusting her enough yet to take his hand away from her mouth. Yuffie could say anything she wanted to without batting an eyelash at all.  
  
Yuffie's shoulders slumped in her version of a dramatic sigh without the air movement. She nodded.  
  
"Good."  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
"Aren't you ever coming to bed?"  
  
"Hang on, Vinnie, jeez, you're so impatient."  
  
Yuffie tore her shirt off and examined where Tifa had hit her. As soon as she saw the area, she groaned. It was only about the size of Tifa's fist (wonder why?)but was solid black with a neat little sick looking green haze around the edges.  
  
"GROSSNESS!"  
  
"Tifa hit you harder than you thought, huh?" Vincent asked dryly from the bed.  
  
"Uh huh," Yuffie pouted. "I'm going to be all colorful before the week is over, just you wait."  
  
"That's the problem right there."  
  
Yuffie turned to him. 'What is?"  
  
"I don't want to wait," he said, grinning wolfishly. "Get over here before I pin you to the wall."  
  
"Hey! You've never pinned me to a wall before. Why not start now?"  
  
"Because I'll open the window and invite Cloud and Tifa to watch."  
  
"Eww. And I thought my bruise was gross," she said grumpily before diving under the covers.  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
Vincent sighed as he heard Yuffie across the hall in the shower. He wanted to go and join her but Cloud had asked for the materia of the shop to be analyzed and counted, when Yuffie wasn't in the room. Cloud didn't want her to filch any, even if she did say it was all "like, the worst materia ever!" Even so, it was still materia, and Yuffie was still Yuffie.  
  
And, of course, Yuffie being Yuffie, she sang in the shower, and that drove Vincent bonkers.  
  
"I don't mind that I've  
  
Come back here again  
  
In a place so far away  
  
From normal life  
  
"They are racing to a prison  
  
They will never leave  
  
Worshipping a system  
  
I just don't believe  
  
"I could stay right here  
  
And never ever leave  
  
What else do I need?  
  
I know that you don't like me  
  
That's all right today  
  
I love you but you bore me  
  
Don't fuck up my day  
  
"I could stay right here  
  
And never ever leave  
  
What else do I need?  
  
"I could stay right here  
  
And never ever leave  
  
What else do I need?  
  
"People worry that  
  
I don't do anything  
  
I think they really wonder  
  
Why I'm not like them  
  
"They are racing to a prison  
  
They will never leave  
  
Worshipping a system  
  
I just don't believe  
  
"I could stay right here  
  
And never ever leave  
  
What else do I need?  
  
What else do I need?  
  
What else do I need?"  
  
He hadn't expected such a song to come from Yuffie. It was darker and deeper than the things she usually sang. He liked it, though. He wondered where she got all those songs. Really, how many languages could the girl know how to sing in?  
  
Vincent jumped when a hand reached out from behind him and rearranged the materia, deftly sorting the different magic and command as well as support and independent. Vincent turned to see Yuffie decked only in a towel and scowling.  
  
"Jeez, Vinnie, you've got these all screwy. Mastered materias can't go with anything else, I don't care if they are the same magic, the value of un- mastered materia is like sooo much smaller. And these! You can't put these with Fire materia, that just doesn't make any sense!"  
  
Vincent realized that Yuffie was talking to herself as she sorted the materia with expert fingers. He was honestly surprised she hadn't filched any of it yet. He kept eyeing her suspiciously, but she hadn't slipped anything into her clothes. He smacked himself mentally when he finally noticed she wasn't wearing any, just a towel.  
  
"Oh, suckith! These materias are really horrible, you know that Vinnie? Why on the scales of Leviathan the Kalm materia keeper keeps all of this is over my head. I mean, most of these materias are so weak anyway, like Gravity. I mean, honestly, what use can you get out of a freaking Gravity materia? The thing doesn't even work half the time! And..."  
  
The doorbell chimes brightly from downstairs; Yuffie sighed and stood, heading down to get the door.  
  
Vincent bit back a chuckle. "Yuffie?"  
  
She turned. "What?"  
  
Vincent waved his hand airily at her towel. "I thought I was the only one allowed to see you like that."  
  
She blushed and started to go upstairs. "You get the door, then!" she snapped.  
  
Vincent didn't quite laugh but he did smirk a little bit. Heading down the stairs to open the door, Cloud and Tifa were both there with two very different smiles on their faces. Cloud looked like he knew what he wanted and so did Tifa, but Tifa had a wicked gleam in her eye.  
  
"Can I talk to Yuffie?" Tifa asked. Vincent nodded slowly and let her passed. Cloud followed suit just a couple of seconds later.  
  
"Do you have the materia finished?"  
  
"I thought I was sorting it properly but then Yuffie came up, and..."  
  
"Did she take any?" Cloud asked sharply.  
  
Vincent shook his head. "No. But she sorted them, so I doubt anyone could do better."  
  
The blond man nodded, the spikes in his hair bobbing a little with the motion. "Alrighty, then."  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
"Cloud and I have gotten reports about monsters duplicating like crazy in the forests outside of Junon, and we were hoping you and Vincent would come help exterminate them."  
  
Yuffie bounced on the balls of her feet. "Sounds great!"  
  
Tifa nodded. "Thanks. But I was wondering...?"  
  
"Yeah?" Yuffie prompted.  
  
"Let's switch weapons!"  
  
Yuffie let a slow grin slide across her face. "Cool."  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
"Get ready, Tifa," Cloud warned. "They're coming."  
  
Yuffie rolled her eyes, but luckily no one but the trees saw.  
  
A small green dragon approached, startling all four of the group. Yuffie and Tifa flashed each other grins as Tifa brandished the Conformer and Yuffie the Premium Heart. They were grinning like idiots; each of the weapons they were using were way beyond their skill limit.  
  
Cloud's eyebrows shot up and Vincent raised one. Yuffie gave a cocky sort of smirk and got in the ready position; Tifa did the same. By this time, the green dragon was upon them.  
  
Yuffie was in mid stride of running forward and Tifa was in mid throw of the shuriken when the green dragon stopped it's advance, a bullet placed neatly between it's eyes.  
  
"What you two are doing is stupid," Vincent said flatly.  
  
Yuffie rolled her eyes. "Bite me."  
  
Vincent rolled them back. "Trade weapons."  
  
Yuffie stuck out her tongue. "Make me!"  
  
Exactly one minute, thirteen seconds later Yuffie was letting Vincent know just how much of an ass he was from over his shoulder, the Conformer strapped to her back.  
  
Tifa let out a sigh. "I told you this was a bad idea."  
  
Yuffie's eyes popped out at she started at the martial artist. "Traitor!" she screeched, and struggled with renewed fury to get out of Vincent's death grip.  
  
"Vinnie, let me GO!"  
  
"No."  
  
"Please?"  
  
"No."  
  
"I'll beat your butt from here to Wutai!"  
  
"No."  
  
"I'll never kiss you again!"  
  
"No."  
  
"GAWD! You really are inhuman!"  
  
"I would drop you in the dirt if I didn't think you would do something very Yuffie-like."  
  
"You're such a meanie!"  
  
Vincent sighed. "I know."  
  
Cloud and Tifa now walked ahead of Vincent and Yuffie and had gotten used to the conversation. They were not prepared, however, when Vincent gave a very un-manly squeak.  
  
They turned to see Yuffie with her elbow on Vincent's shoulder and her hand supporting her chin, looking innocent. Vincent was blushing.  
  
"Yuffie Kisaragi!"  
  
"What?"  
  
Cloud shook his head. "Never mind. I don't even want to know."  
  
"These monster hunting are going to go on a long time."  
  
Yuffie gave an impatient snort.  
  
Forty three monsters later, it was barely two in the afternoon. Any bystander would have been a little puzzled at the scene, to say the least.  
  
A tall man with an odd blond hairstyle and an enormous sword. A beautiful girl who looked like she could beat anyone harder than Knights of the Round. A dark man with scarlet eyes and a golden claw. A Wutainese ninja slung over one shoulder. The ninja was idly muttering something to the dark man, and one could just barely here what it was.  
  
"Hey, Vinnie. If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to see it, do the other trees make fun of it?"  
  
Vincent sighed. It was going to be a long day. 


	3. Vast is the...

Tequila Mockingbird  
part III - Vast is the...  
  
  
A/N: This chapter is for End of Trend. That you so much for the criticism! I'll try my best to make it more realistic, alright? I meant this to be a fun story, not a totally unreasonable one. o_O   
  
A/N2: Thank you to Kittie Gurl, deranged maniacal psycho, Sorceress Fujin, sabacat, Noble, Kupo and End of Trend for reviewing. You guys rock! ^.^  
  
A/N3: The chapter name will have effect a few chapters to come.  
  
Disclaimer: The song "Vast" is by New Clear Sky. I want it desperately. "Perfect World" (only partially in the story) and "Edge of Heaven" are both by Ace of Base. I want them too.  
  
Disclaimer2: Square owns all characters mentioned in this story. *sighs*  
  
  
----------  
  
Underneath Midgar, the planet moaned. Remnants of Meteor had lodged themselves in it's very core, it's very being. Pain was all the planet could think of, for the beast that was taking her over had stolen her most precious friend. The last Cetra to grace the planet with her presence. Aeris Gainsborough.   
  
Beneath the surface, the lifestream shifted.  
  
  
***  
  
  
Yuffie froze in mid stride. Had the ground just shifted? Mentally groaning, she kicked the ground. 'Don't you dare give me an earthquake now, planet! We're almost home!'  
  
Yet the planet continued to shift, and Yuffie seemed to be the only one to notice it. Then again, Vincent could be noticing it, but he didn't respond much to anything. Usually.  
  
The planet rocked so hard and violently that a small crack appeared in front of Yuffie. She let out a wail and dashed forward, clinging to Vincent from behind. Vincent almost toppled over.  
  
"Yuffie, what is it?" Vincent asked, turning slightly.  
  
"E...E....E...."  
  
"Spit it out, Yuffie," Cloud said.  
  
"EARTHQUAKE!"  
  
With that, Yuffie dashed forward ahead of the other three, running like madly for Kalm. The buildings had just entered her line of vision when another tremor rocked the planet, and a small amount of green seeped through a crack. With renewed fury and a brand new shriek, Yuffie took off even fast. Whatever the hell was going on, Lifestream coming up was NOT good thing.  
  
The mako in Cloud's blood seemed to be reacting to the upheaval of the Lifestream. "Yuffie!" was all he said before he dashed forward, trying to keep up with the Wutainese ninja. It wasn't working.   
  
Vincent and Tifa followed suit, but as soon as they could see Yuffie, yet another tremor rocked the earth violently. The cracks continued to get worse, and a geyser of neon green liquid shot out of the ground in front of her.   
  
The cracks continued to grow, and the last thing Vincent, Tifa and Cloud saw was Yuffie tumbling into the Lifestream.  
  
  
***  
  
  
"She's not an Ancient."  
  
"Well, duh, you old coot!"  
  
"What are we going to do with her?"  
  
"Boil her!"  
  
"WHAT?"  
  
"Joke, joke."  
  
"That wasn't funny."  
  
"I thought it was!"  
  
"SHUT UP! You both are shriveling old dirt bags, anyway."  
  
The first voice seemed to pout. "Nobody asked you, Jenova."  
  
"Nobody had to."  
  
"I know, I know!"  
  
"What?"  
  
"We'll get Sephiroth to stab her! She's cute. I don't want to send her back."  
  
"Pervert!"  
  
"I am not!"  
  
"Are to!"  
  
"Are not!"  
  
"Are too!"  
  
"What's all this about?"  
  
The three voices died at the sound of the new, soft voice.   
  
"Aeris. Didn't know you were over here."  
  
"I can be everywhere."  
  
"We know, we know, you little Cetra b--"  
  
"Jenova!"  
  
"We still don't know what we should do with her."  
  
"What's her name?"  
  
"How the hell should I know?"  
  
"I don't know!"  
  
"Then why did you ask?"  
  
"I don't know!"  
  
"Do you know anything?"  
  
"Yes!"  
  
"What?"  
  
"You're an idiot!"  
  
"I'M the idiot?!"  
  
"YES!"  
  
"Am not!"  
  
"Are so!"  
  
"Am not!"  
  
"QUIET!"  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Just shut up and listen. The planet is in need of a new Cetra, correct?"  
  
"Well, duh."  
  
The new voice ignored the sarcasm. "Why not give the blood of a Cetra to this girl we've just gotten?"  
  
"Why would we do that?"  
  
"To make her a Cetra, moron."  
  
"Oh. Right."  
  
"It will be hard to send her back, though. But we sent Cloud back before, correct?"  
  
"Uh, right. The weird haired guy."  
  
One of the voices snorted. "Appearances mean nothing, you vain little pig."  
  
"I am not a pig!"  
  
"DON'T EVEN START!" Jenova roared.  
  
"Why not give the girl Cetra blood? She can protect the planet, and her offspring after that."  
  
"Aeris, do you recognize the girl?"  
  
A pause.  
  
"YUFFIE!"  
  
"I guess you do."  
  
"Yes, I do. She fought with AVALANCHE in the battle to save the planet from Meteor."  
  
"Ha! See? She'd be a good candidate for repopulating the Cetra."  
  
"That all depends on who she sleeps with."  
  
"How so?"  
  
"Well, if she slept with, for instance, a--"  
  
"Don't go there," a voice warned flatly.   
  
"Yuffie would say 'Grossness' if she ever heard you say that."  
  
"Hey, look! She's waking up!"  
  
Yuffie was indeed beginning to stir, green light and transparent people all around her. Well, some were transparent, others seemed more solid that on the normal plain of existence. Aeris pushed her way forward.  
  
"Aeris!"  
  
"Yuffie. I'm glad you're alright."  
  
"ALRIGHT?! I'm in the damned Lifestream! Remember what happened to Cloud when he fell in? He go MAKO POISONING! Oh, gawd, am I gonna go crazy like he did? Oh, gawd, oh gawd..."  
  
"Yuffie, calm down."  
  
"GAWD!"  
  
Many people in the circle around the two winced.  
  
"You won't go crazy, Yuffie. Don't worry. But, we do have a favor to ask of you."  
  
"You do?" Jenova snapped from the background.  
  
"Yes," Aeris repeated firmly. "We do."  
  
Yuffie looked at her dubiously. "What is it?"  
  
"Will you become a Cetra for us?"  
  
"Oh, sure, Aeris. No problem, just let me....Wait. You want me to WHAT!"  
  
Jenova sighed. "The dawn breaks."  
  
  
***  
  
  
The Lifestream burbled and bubbled almost happily. The planet seemed ecstatic to have a friend walking it's surface again. Aeris Gainsborough was quickly fading away into the depths of life, and soon would be no more.   
  
That's the way life goes.  
  
Below the surface, the Lifestream shifted.  
  
  
***  
  
  
"Yuffie!"  
  
Rough hands shaking her awake. Blond spikes. Four worried red eyes.   
  
Wait. Four?  
  
'Oh, gawd, I hope Vinnie didn't get an operation. I liked him fine with only two eyes.'   
  
The second pair of eyes were less clear than Vincent's and more opaque. Tifa. They were all standing over her, Tifa like a worried mother hen, Vincent like...well, he looked concerned. Cloud looked a bit petrified, like he was reliving old memories. Well, he probably was.  
  
And green goo was dripping off Yuffie.  
  
She sat up with a shriek. "GROSSNESS!"  
  
The three companions of the ninja stepped back in surprise.   
  
"You see to have gotten your energy back quickly," Tifa remarked dryly.  
  
"Ah, er, um!" Yuffie cried, examining herself as best she could with Lifestream clinging to her. "Do I look any different to you guys?"  
  
"Not really," Vincent said dryly.  
  
Yuffie rolled her eyes at him and turned to Cloud. "Um, Cloud? Could we go to the City of the Ancients soon?"  
  
Cloud looked, needless to say, surprised as hell. "What brought this up?"  
  
"Just...please?"  
  
"Alright," Cloud said hesitantly, looking to Tifa and Vincent for agreement. They nodded.  
  
  
***  
  
  
The water rolled smoothly from the unknown source above the altar, the coral growing around it easily. Yuffie stepped forward with Cloud, Tifa and Vincent behind her. The water shimmered and a vision of Aeris appeared. She gestured to the writing at the foot of the altar.   
  
Yuffie obediently knelt, examining the writing. All at once, she understood it. And she read it aloud.  
  
"Vast is the sunshine and the sea  
Vast is the heavens watching over me  
And the stars that pierce the sky  
In their majesty  
  
Vast is the desert and the rain  
Vast in my admiration unrestrained  
But for years I've seen you  
Always..."  
  
The silence that followed was so thick you could have cut it with a knife that was so dull it couldn't have cut sea foam. Cloud broke it.  
  
"Woah, Yuffie! You can read that??"  
  
Yuffie nodded slowly.  
  
"How?" Vincent asked pointedly.  
  
Yuffie scratched the back of her head. "Honestly, Vinnie, I haven't got a clue." Well, Yuffie told herself, it's only a small lie. Or at least a medium lie. Maybe a big lie, but that's pushing it. Scowling, Yuffie fiercely told her mind to shut the hell up.  
  
Tifa was looking at Yuffie oddly, but chose not to comment.   
  
And with that, they slowly descended the stairs from the altar, ascended the stairs to the second level, and exited the building. Yuffie eyed engravings everywhere she went.   
  
After a long bit of nagging from Yuffie and tugging on Vincent's hair until he agreed, it was decided they would visit the central building of the City of the Ancients.  
  
The city used to creep Yuffie out, but now that she thought about it, she felt at home here. The planet talked all around her, and it was getting a little annoying. Maintaining a very small shred of patience, however, she resolved to teach herself to block out the voices of the Lifestream.   
  
Yuffie grinned and ran ahead of the other three, spinning around in circles with her arms wide. She couldn't explain the humbleness that washed over her along with the happiness; she could only blame it on the Cetra blood that ran through her veins.   
  
"Why do you want to come here, anyway?" Tifa asked idly, sneaking discreet glances at Yuffie.  
  
"Dunno. But the way I figure, if I could read the stuff back there, then there might be more stuff out here to read, you know?"  
  
Vincent nodded slowly, and it was a small movement. He was a bit disturbed by Yuffie's sudden ability to read a language no human had been able to, ever. The only beings who could read it were the Cetra, and Yuffie sure as hell wasn't one of those.   
  
Yuffie's perky gait soon slowed to a small, sulking pace as they neared the area were Aeris had died. Cloud had quieted considerable, as had Tifa. Yuffie suspected that Tifa was always jealous of Aeris while at the same time loved her considerable. It was a complicated mix, and Yuffie dismissed it as an "old people" matter. She didn't want to dwell on having her emotions ripped in two different directions.  
  
The group's pace had slowed to a complete halt as they stood outside the lake. Yuffie smiled slowly, a completely serene smile that made Vincent even more suspicious. What on earth did Yuffie know that no one else did?  
  
Yuffie almost ran up the ramp that led into the giant shell. The others, puzzled, gave each other a shrug before following. Yuffie stopped in front of the door just abruptly as she had started running toward it; there were engravings surrounding the door. The young ninja looked at them for a minute, before reading out loud.  
  
"There's nothing to cry for  
No one to die for  
In a perfect world..."  
  
Tifa blinked and looked at her. "What do you think that means?"  
  
Yuffie shrugged. "No idea. Now hang on, there's more."  
  
"Our father's fathers say that things were better then  
How easy they forget  
In ever page and every book of history  
A thousand tears were shed..."  
  
"The rest is too faded," Yuffie said, sighing. "I wonder if any of the knowledge is around here? I mean, I know that this is great, but it's advice. I want actual directions."  
  
"Directions to what?" Vincent asked logically.  
  
"Uh, er, I..." Yuffie began. She didn't want them to know what she was up to! No way she would tell them, because if she couldn't pull it off in the end...well, she just wouldn't think about that. "Nothing, really, Vinnie. It'd just be nice to learn the kinds of things they did, with me being able to read their language and all, right?"  
  
Vincent didn't answer, merely elegantly raised an eyebrow.   
  
"Don't look at me like that!" Yuffie grumped.  
  
"Then tell us the truth."  
  
Yuffie's eyes widened; she had forgotten just how smart Vincent was. 'Damn you,' she muttered in her mind. 'You know me too well. Okay, Kisaragi, think of something!'   
  
"Well, I was actually wondering if there was anyway to transfer the knowledge of the Ancients through the Lifestream, cause, like, why didn't I get sick like Cloud did when he fell in?"  
  
'Way to go, Yuffie Kisaragi!' Yuffie cheered herself and gave a mental bow. 'Mighty fine excuse, if I do say so myself.'  
  
"Yeah, good point," Tifa added, stopping any further response from Vincent. Yuffie could have kissed her. Not that what Yuffie was doing would have any effect of Vincent anyway, but it would hit Cloud and Tifa like a chocobo on drugs. Strong, strong, energy giving, strength magnifying drugs. And then, of course, Yuffie would have an Omnislash to reckon with, and that was SO not funny.  
  
"Well, let's keep going!" Yuffie said in a care free voice. But inside, she had millions of cares to worry about. Like how to ditch them while she looked around the City. What did they call it, anyway? All she had known was the City of the Ancients. Of course, they had just left the city, but the real city...that was underground.   
  
Yuffie closed her eyes. It seemed like an hour of concentration, but she knew that mere seconds were passing. A flash of green power rose within Yuffie, and she focused every ounce of mental energy she possessed to form it into thought. She knew Aeris wouldn't have been drained like this, but Yuffie was undeniably new at the Cetra thing.   
  
'Please...just a tiny earthquake, a little to Vincent's left? There's a large piece of coral there. If you could just distract them with that long enough for me to reach the City, I would be grateful.'  
  
The planet seemed to nod, and then the second passed. Yuffie blinked dazedly and turned in time to see the jagged piece of coral to the left of Vincent plummet to the ground, and several water monsters were released with it. One attacked Yuffie as if reading her mind; she cried out like she was hurt and flung her Conformer into the lake. With her being weaponless, she had an excuse to run, now didn't she?  
  
Turning tail and fleeing rapidly into the shell, down the path usually guarded by the fish. Yuffie ran down the crystalline staircase, her ninja's legs taking her swifter than the others could, even if they weren't hampered by the water monsters. Yuffie leaped onto the first stone, then the second. The third, the fourth. The fifth. With a final jump, Yuffie was on the altar where her first friend had died.  
  
Yuffie waited for merely a minute of silence before she dove into the water. Holding her breath as long as she could, she reached the bottom of the lake and looked around vaguely, not entirely sure what the White Materia would look like now that it had been used. With a triumphant watery grin, she swam to the green orb she spied. Touching it briefly in an almost wistful hello/goodbye gesture, she swam to the surface, satisfied the materia was safe.   
  
Now, for her second objective. Shaking water off of herself, Yuffie looked at the central post toward the back of the altar. Locating the characters on it, she grinned happily. They were faded and worn, but certainly readable. Yuffie slowly moved her hands down, caressing the characters in such a sentimental she was forced to scowl and blame it on her ancestors. That is, Aeris's ancestors.  
  
Smiling, she read the words, instructions for the thing that Cloud wanted most. For what Tifa seemed to want most. Standing, she left the altar.  
  
  
***  
  
  
"Where the HELL have you been?!" Cloud cried angrily.   
  
Yuffie winced. She knew her friends could have handled the monsters, they wouldn't have missed her. Still, she voiced the excuse she had planned before. "One of the monsters took me by surprise and my Conformer got thrown in the lake. I'm not good enough with my fists yet to take one of them down."  
  
Something in Vincent's eyes flashed, and Yuffie couldn't help the panic. 'Shit, I've forgotten something,' she thought. And then she remembered: the day in the woods, her ready to attack any monsters that came their way with the Premium Heart...  
  
"Yuffie Kisaragi, you are so dead," Yuffie muttered to herself. Vincent nodded, a demonic smile on his face.  
  
"Oh, yes, you are." And with that, Vincent turned and left the Capital with long, purposeful strides. Shrugging, Cloud followed. Yuffie sighed deeply.   
  
"He was my friend once," Yuffie said with remorse.   
  
Tifa nodded sagely and a small laugh escaped her lips. "And then the rope broke and he got away."  
  
"You suck," Yuffie said grumpily.   
  
  
  
A/N4: Odd ending and really freaking short chapter, but I got inspired for what's gonna happen next, and then suddenly I couldn't wait to finish this chapter. ^__^ 


	4. The Lady of His Dreams

Tequila Mockingbird  
part IV - The Lady of His Dreams  
  
A/N: I now have a dedication for this chapter! Kittie Gurl, sabacat and Kupo! XD~ You three have reviewed every single chapter so far, despite the mere three chapters. -_- Anyway, thankies!  
  
A/N2: I'm sorry Yuko Hoon! I'll try to keep it light hearted, but my idea for the story won't make it easy. I'll do my best! But I think this story is going to get kinda angsty...honestly, though, I'm not sure.  
  
A/N3: I finally have my own original plot! *cheers* Yuffie as an Ancient...sheesh....what was I thinking??  
  
Disclaimer: Blah. Want them. Don't have them.  
  
Disclaimer2: "Twilight" is by Boa.   
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
Stormy eyes gazed at the ebony and ivory form, the sleek body even more pale, almost unnaturally so, in the moonlight. The beams from the celestial body streamed in through the window and lay of his form only, as if making him glow, just for her.   
  
And so she sat, listening to his breathing as he stirred. Peeking a scarlet eye open, he looked at her somewhat groggily.   
  
"What are you still doing awake?"  
  
She gave a dreamily smile and attached herself to his bare back, her arms wrapping around to rest somewhere around his bellybutton. She poked his navel and he arched his back, glaring at her.  
  
She giggled and rested her head against his back, her body rising and falling in time with his breathing. "Watching you," she said simply.  
  
"Why?"  
  
The girl rolled her eyes. "You're so dense. I could keep you up all night telling you just how damned sexy you are, but that ego of yours doesn't need any feeding."  
  
A slender eyebrow raised. "Don't mix me up with Cloud."  
  
The girl sighed and closed her eyes. "Point taken."  
  
"I'm surprise you haven't fallen asleep yet. Usually you fall asleep quickly."  
  
She snorted. "You tend to do that to women."  
  
He allowed a small smile. "I'm pleased I meet your standards."  
  
She pinched him. "Arrogant pig!"  
  
He flipped her underneath him in retaliation, eliciting a gasp/giggle/snort from her. He brought his lips to hers, not enough for a kiss, but enough to touch. "That's sexy arrogant pig."  
  
"You're not helping your image any."  
  
"Can I make it worse, then?"  
  
"No."  
  
He flopped against her, pressing her into the mattress. "You're no fun."  
  
The girl raised her eyebrows incredulously. "Your vocal cords forming the word 'fun' is, like, really weird."  
  
"You staying up late is weird."  
  
"But you're so cute when you sleep!"  
  
He sighed. "I take it back. It's a perfect Yuffie characteristic."  
  
"Aw, is Vinnie getting exasperated? I could sing you to sleep?"  
  
Vincent's eyes shot open. She sung beautifully, except when she was trying to be annoying. She sounded worse than Cait Sith with his megaphone shoved down his throat.   
  
"That's quite alright."  
  
"No, no, Vinnie! I need to help you get back to sleep again!"  
  
As she opened her mouth to begin whatever blasphemy she called singing, he took advantage of the opportunity to kiss her, his tongue flicking against her own. Her eyes evanescently closing, she smiled a little and rolled over, dragging him with her.  
  
"I didn't want you to go back to sleep anyway."  
  
  
***  
  
  
"Z....Z....Z....."  
  
"Yuffie, what is it?"  
  
"You have a serious problem with stuttering lately, you know that?" Cloud said impatiently. "I don't know why you want to waste time in the marsh anyway..."  
  
"Z..."  
  
"Yuffie, spit it out and spit it loud!" Tifa said with a grin.  
  
This time, everyone heard the hiss and saw the Midgar Zolom approaching.  
  
"ZOLOM!!"  
  
Vincent rolled his eyes. "Thank you for your sagacious observation."  
  
"Bite me!" she snapped before turning tail feathers and sprinting away on Hades, whom she had insisted Vincent let her use "Because I'll sing if you don't, and you can't shut me up here!". She had proceeded to stick her tongue out at him, which led him to be sorely tempted to kiss her then and there, but Cloud and Tifa were watching, and what was the point in throwing gasoline on a forest fire?  
  
"Uh, Yuffie?" Cloud asked her retreating form. Sighing and shaking his head, mumbling something incoherent but in which the tone was obvious, her drew the Ultima Weapon and held it out before him, waiting for the Zolom to approach.  
  
A full twenty six seconds later, Tifa, Cloud and Vincent were chasing after Yuffie, the Zolom left behind and fully dead. Cloud reminded himself to laugh at her later for running. It was just too good an opportunity to resist.  
  
Each of the three comrades were surprised to see Yuffie kneeling in front of a plant, seemingly in a trance and a strange green glow around her fingers. She was deftly, if lightly as a feather, running her fingers over the plant, which looked like an orange blossoming cactus. Which, of course, clashing severely with the fact that they were in a swamp, but no one seemed to notice that.  
  
Her eyes shot open as she snatched the plant from it's home in the planet, cramming it into her satchel that hung at her side. "This is it!" she said, feigning ignorance to their odd stares. Cloud wondered briefly if she had filched some of his materia to make that glow, but dismissed the thought. He trusted Yuffie. Okay, so that was a lie, but he let himself believe it for the time being.  
  
Yuffie cheerfully mounted Hades. "Next, we need to go and find some Holy Water."  
  
"Wait wait wait. Why are you getting these things, anyway?" Cloud asked.  
  
Yuffie rolled her eyes. "I told you, it's a surprise."  
  
"If this is another game..." Tifa began.  
  
Yuffie held up her hands. "It's not, I swear," she said, and the honesty in her eyes made Tifa nod in acceptance. "Alright, then."  
  
"But, um, we've still got a question left."  
  
"What's that?" Vincent asked.  
  
"How do we get Holy Water?"  
  
"We could boil the Hell out of it," Cloud suggested with a grin. Tifa pinched him.  
  
"Ha ha, very funny," she said.  
  
Cloud, Tifa and Vincent turned towards a sudden thump and insane giggling. Yuffie was there, rolling around in the swamp, laughing. "You thought it was funny too!" she exclaimed happily, and then got a look at their faces. "Oh."  
  
Vincent snorted. "And you called me dense."  
  
  
***  
  
  
Laughing maniacally, Yuffie exclaimed "Foolish mortals!" before bounding off toward the stream they had found, eagerly taking a drink.   
  
"Uh, riiight," Cloud said, staring after the girl.  
  
Tifa shrugged and followed the Wutainese ninja, kneeling to get a drink from the stream herself.   
  
Yuffie dunked her head underneath the stream, happily swallowing more of the crystal liquid to ease her throat and she made sure her neck got extra wet. The Gold Saucer desert was NOT a fun place to be.   
  
An idea hit her like a brick and she sat up abruptly, rubbing her head.  
  
"Ow!"  
  
"Thinking to hard?" Cloud teased.   
  
Yuffie threw her Conformer at him.  
  
"My, my, my. Touchy today, aren't we?"  
  
"Shut up, Spikey. I've got an idea!"  
  
"Ack!" Cloud cried, running behind Tifa. "Take cover!"  
  
Yuffie rolled her eyes. "Ha, ha. Why don't we split up; one group look for the Holy Water, the other for the belladonna?"  
  
"Why do you need the poison, anyway?" Tifa asked.  
  
"It's a S-U-R-P-R-I-S-E, Tifa."   
  
"Right. But isn't belladonna hard to come by these days?"  
  
"Probably why Yuffie needs it," Vincent said.  
  
"Sure, sure, whatever. So, can we? Huh huh huh huh?"  
  
Cloud groaned. "If I say yes, will you shut up?"  
  
Yuffie nodded.  
  
"Yes."  
  
  
***  
  
  
Vincent was getting a headache.  
  
Yuffie was babbling insanely, talking to everything on the path, even the rocks. He could have sworn she was deliberately tormenting him. Flipping some ebony hair idly over his shoulder to keep it out of his eyes, Vincent spoke.  
  
"Why do we need to get Holy Water, anyway?"  
  
"Jeez, Vinnie, weren't you listening? It's a S-U--"  
  
"A surprise, I know. Let me rephrase the question: WHERE are we going to get Holy Water?"  
  
Yuffie shrugged. "I have no idea."  
  
Vincent rolled his eyes and smiled fondly at her. Well, it was either fondness or exasperation. Or it could have been despair. 'Who cares?' Yuffie thought. 'A smile is a smile.'  
  
"HOWEVER!" Yuffie cried to the tree nearest to her and put her hand in a gun shape on her chin and looked discreetly at Vincent. "I have a plan!"  
  
"Leviathan help us."  
  
Yuffie ignored him. "What else in the world is holy?"  
  
"The White Materia."  
  
Yuffie glared at him. "Don't answer so fast next time! Anyway. Right. The White Materia. And where is the White Materia?"  
  
"The city of the ancients."  
  
Yuffie shook her head. "Nope! Well, yes, but, WHERE is it?"  
  
Vincent thought. "In the water around the altar."  
  
"BINGO! So, maybe that's Holy Water, if it's got the White Materia in it. What do you think, Vinnie?"  
  
"But if we took the water, and left the White Materia, wouldn't that make it normal water again?"  
  
Yuffie pouted. "You're no fun. But, it doesn't hurt to try, now does it?"  
  
"I suppose not. Shall we go, then?"  
  
  
***  
  
  
"Belladonna! Sheesh! This girl is crazy."  
  
Tifa chuckled. "She's a friend, Cloud. At least do this because of that."  
  
"We don't even know what she's gonna do with the belladonna! It's a poison, Teef. Yuffie plus poison equals one poisonous pain in the ass."   
  
"We'll make you an antidote, then."  
  
Cloud sighed. "I doubt it would work."  
  
"So do I."  
  
  
***  
  
  
Yuffie and Vincent, having gotten the water from the City of the Ancients, whether it be holy or not, arrived to find Cloud bending over something and Tifa looking ecstatic beside him.  
  
"Tifa, you look like you're on cloud nine," Vincent said, a rare comment for him.  
  
Yuffie grinned evilly. "Or on Cloud nine times."  
  
Tifa smacked her as Cloud turned, holding up the belladonna plant. "Be nice if you want this."  
  
Yuffie shrugged. "I can always maul you for it."  
  
Vincent raised an eyebrow. "I'll throw you over my shoulder."  
  
The ninja sighed. "Alright, so I won't maul you. But I'll take your Knights of the Round."  
  
Cloud raised an eyebrow. "You couldn't."  
  
With a triumphant smile, Yuffie produced a small red orb. "You haven't had it since we left for the Holy Water. And don't you tell me what materia I can't steal, because I will prove you wrong."   
  
Tifa laughed. "Exchange, then?"  
  
Yuffie nodded and smiled. "Sure."  
  
"...Alright," Cloud said reluctantly.  
  
The two exchanged, and Yuffie nodded at Cloud. "Thanks for finding this for me."  
  
"No problem."  
  
"Well, this is all I need! Let's head back to Kalm!"   
  
With that, Yuffie took off. Vincent gazed at the setting sun for a moment, taking in it's scarlet light, before following the girl toward the Highwind. Cloud looked at the materia in his hand, and realized it truly was...  
  
....a Choco/Mog summon orb.  
  
"YUFFIE KISARAGI!!"  
  
The only response was cackling from the direction of the Highwind.  
  
  
***  
  
  
Yuffie gazed at the wrinkled parchment she had hastily scribbled the directions down on from memory.   
  
"Cactus Flower: Seven Petals  
Belladonna: Picked by a swordsman  
Holy Water: Bottled by a lover  
Cetra Blood: Drawn willingly  
Memory Starfish: Added half past midnight"  
  
She had had a memory starfish for what must have been seven years. Godo had given it to her and told her it was her mothers. Yuffie didn't know if that's what the recipe meant, but it held memories for her, so it would have to do. The Cetra blood she could take care of herself.   
  
Now all she needed was an outlet of Lifestream, and that was easy. The cracks outside of Kalm had never been covered, despite the several weeks that had passed.  
  
Yuffie pulled out a bowl carved from wood out from under her kitchen sink. Adding the cactus flower, belladonna and holy water (which she prayed actually WAS holy), she lifted the knife from the counter. Yuffie didn't like pain, but convincing herself it was for a greater good, she decided it was worth it. That, and she thought about how Vincent looked without his shirt on. It helped.  
  
Slashing the knife across her wrist, she fought not to cry out. Once what she deemed an okay amount of blood had gone into the bowl, she snatched a towel and wrapped it firmly around her wrist. The pain (and the blood everywhere) most definitely sucked, but she could deal.   
  
A light moan from upstairs caught her attention. Wondering briefly what Vincent would think if she saw her wrist, she disregarded the thought; if he was hurt, she'd be damned if a slit wrist would stop her.  
  
Making her way up the stairs, she paused at the door, her hand poised to knock. A single word drifted through to her ears, and she thought, for a moment, that her heart had stopped.  
  
"Lucrecia..."  
  
Yuffie's knuckles became while as she gripped the towel harder than she thought possible. Did Vincent...still love Lucrecia?   
  
"Please...come back to me..."  
  
Yuffie peeked inside of the door. Vincent was asleep, the covers tangled around him in a mass of sweat and limbs. He was dreaming of a woman, and it wasn't Yuffie.   
  
Vincent's claw smacked against the pillow, leaving slashes in the pillow, a few feathers sneaking out. His eyes were squinted shut in a mental pain, the nightmare obviously taking a hold of his sanity.   
  
"I'm so sorry, Lucrecia....forgive me...love you..."  
  
The words, while one fragments, hit Yuffie harder than anything could have. Vincent wasn't happy. ...Wasn't happy with her. She looked down at her wrist, covered in her own blood. The blood of the Cetra.   
  
The spell could only be used once. One person. Only one. Damn it, it just wasn't enough! She couldn't make everyone happy. But...  
  
She could make Vincent happy. She had the power to do that. Cloud and Tifa were happy enough with each other, and Yuffie herself didn't matter. She didn't need anyone to be happy, right?  
  
Right.  
  
"I love you," Yuffie whispered, before she closed the door.  
  
  
***  
  
  
The spell called for your own incantation, one that fit the situation. Yuffie had one already prepared to resurrect Aeris, but now her plans had changed. It wasn't going to be like that anymore.   
  
"Your word and my word and your word is  
Tomorrow, today and yesterday  
But it's a necessary evil  
And you will find your way there  
  
Your feelings and mine are all holy and  
You give me an inner sanctity  
You feel the same way that I do for you, about her  
  
Your word and my word and her word is  
Yesterday, today and tomorrow  
And twilight gives me  
An inner sanctity  
  
And you're feeling  
And you're hungry for her  
And you don't understand it  
But you know you haven't planned it  
  
Your feelings and mine are all lonely  
And dawn comes you're there lying with me  
And you reach out to touch me  
But I am in the twilight  
  
Your feelings and mine are all holy but,  
You know and I know it's untrue because  
When day dawns you're there lying with me  
And the dawn can fly away  
  
And you know I love you but you know that  
There's nothing you can do about it  
Because you love her,  
And you still want me  
  
If I could be her...  
But I'm not her and she's not me  
And you're somewhere different  
On a different planet  
  
And you still want it  
The inner sanctity  
And it's an evil  
But the evil is necessary  
  
And you're still hungry for her  
And you still want her loving  
But she doesn't love you..."  
  
It was half past midnight. Placing the starfish on top of the mixture of herbs, water and blood, Yuffie poured it into the Lifestream.  
  
Green light swelled around her, threatening to make all of her senses explode. She screamed, yet refused to run away. The caster had to remain until the one the spell had been cast upon appeared, or the magic would end with no chance of regaining the hope. None at all...  
  
And then, the light was fading. But still, the object of what she wanted wasn't there. Yuffie gasped. She had been dead so long...her blood was the source of the spell's power, was it not.   
  
That was fine.   
  
Removing the knife from the ground where she had placed it earlier, she quickly brought it across her left wrist. Deeper than the last time, this cut flowed freely with the blood of ancient knowledge. As it poured into and rejoined the Lifestream, everything around Yuffie Kisaragi went black.  
  
  
***  
  
  
Vincent awoke in the morning with the immediate sense something was wrong. He stood, Yuffie wasn't in bed. That in itself was unusual. When he pulled a feather out of his hair, he became even more puzzled.  
  
Until he saw the pillow.  
  
It couldn't even be recognized as one anymore. Shredded violently. Well, Vincent reflected, that would explain the clammy skin and cold sweat. So, he had had a nightmare. Panic struck Vincent...he hadn't turned into Chaos, had he?  
  
He knew only one thing: he hand to find Yuffie. Now.   
  
Hurriedly pulling on pants and racing down the stairs, Vincent pulled a black shirt over his head as he flew out the front door. The entrance to Kalm was not far from the home he shared with Yuffie.   
  
As he rounded the corner, his heart stopped.  
  
Soaking wet and glowing faintly green stood Lucrecia.  
  
And in her arms was Yuffie.  
  
  
  
A/N4: Gah! This chapter was pretty short too, but this might be the normal length of them from now on. Oh well. Please let me know what you think! I didn't mean to get rid of the light heartedness, but this kinda came out of no where, and I liked the idea too much to just let it go. 


	5. Running

Tequila Mockingbird  
part V - Running  
  
  
A/N: *cheers* I'm not the only one who hates Lucrecia!! Me...give Vincent over to that woman? *shudders* Have faith, my friends, that shall never happen. ^_^  
  
A/N2: *turns chibi and waddles over* It seems that you all liked the last chapter. I'm glad I could make you hate me with the cliffhanger. ^^ Anyways, thanks to deranged maniacal psycho, Sorceress Fujin, Tifa, sabacat, Kittie Gurl, Mana Angel, Faeo BS, Attack of the Evil Furbies and Mr. No Name over there. XD Let me know who you are next time!  
  
A/N3: I could use a beta reader/editor for this story if anyone is interested. I'm too lazy to do it myself. ^^ My email is masika@soulcake.net if anyone wants to take me up on the offer.   
  
Disclaimer: I want my own Vincent! *sniffle* *sob* Square took him away...  
  
Disclaimer2: "Running" is by No Doubt.  
  
A/N4: Attack of the Evil Furbies, your name kicks serious ass. ^_~  
  
  
***  
  
  
Run, running all the time  
Running to the future  
With you right by my side  
  
Me, I'm the one you chose  
Out of all the people  
You wanted me the most  
  
And I'm so sorry that I've fallen  
Help me up, let's keep on running  
Don't let me fall out of love  
  
Running, Running as fast as we can  
Do you think we'll make it?  
We're running, keep holding my hand  
So we don't get separated  
  
Be, be the one I need  
Be the one I trust most  
Don't stop inspiring me  
  
Sometimes it's hard to keep on running  
Work so much to keep it going  
Don't let me want to give up  
  
Running, Running as fast as we can  
I really hope we'll make it  
Do you think we'll make it?  
We're running, keep holding my hand  
So we don't get separated.  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
Lucrecia stirred, away of two pairs of mako eyes around her. Well, at least glowing eyes. Blue, red, and a dull burgundy in the background was what she first saw when she awoke. Then it hit her: the scarlet eyes belonged to Vincent.   
  
"Vincent!"   
  
'Vinnie!!'  
  
"I've missed you so much," Lucrecia said, wrapping her arms around Vincent. He looked startled, and hesitantly returned the embrace. "Please, Vincent, just hold me. Just for a minute."  
  
'It's called a hug, Vinnie. H-U-G. You know, an embrace of friendship? Jeez, Vinnie, don't you know anything?'  
  
'Do you suppose...you could give me a hug, Vinnie?'  
  
Vincent untangled himself from Lucrecia. The memories and thought were too much. "What happened?" he asked.  
  
"Oh, Vincent, I just don't know. I woke up next to the Lifestream crack outside the town, and that girl was there....she was bleeding everywhere, but most of it went into the Lifestream. Vincent, will she be alright?"  
  
Vincent's lips tightened into a thin line. "We don't know," he said flatly.   
  
'Jeez, Vinnie, I thought you were the smart one. How can you not know?'  
  
"May I see her?" Lucrecia asked softly. "I want to ask her some questions."  
  
As Lucrecia moved to head up the stairs, a very pissed Tifa blocked her way. "I don't think so," she said coldly. "We don't know if she'll live and you want to ask her questions?"  
  
"I just thought..."  
  
"Think harder next time."  
  
"Tifa, I really don't think you're being fair--" Vincent began.  
  
'You are SO not fair, Vinnie!'  
  
"Yuffie could die, Vincent! Do you understand this?! I thought you loved her!"  
  
Lucrecia started. This was most definitely not what she had expected. Vincent closed his eyes tightly as he felt his heart tremble. How had Yuffie brought Lucrecia back to life, and why?   
  
He stood in a vast ocean of indecision. Yuffie...she was so sweet. He loved her sarcasm, her humor. The way she brought the human out of him. He loved how she trembled when he was inside her, how she stole his food by kissing him.   
  
Yet, hadn't he told Lucrecia he would love her forever? He remembered drawing his own blood for an experiment of hers, partly to show he would do anything for her...  
  
'Grossness! Vinnie, where'd you get that scar?'  
  
...but it hadn't bothered him, really. And he had killed her son, Sephiroth. Left her for Hojo to do as he pleased with...should have done something...  
  
"I...see."   
  
The dead tone came from Lucrecia. Vincent turned to look at her, ignoring the icy glare Tifa gave the older woman. "Lucrecia..."  
  
"Don't, Vincent."  
  
'Don't you dare, Vinnie!!'  
  
"Don't hurt me again."  
  
Tifa's eyes widened as her hands clenched in fists. Memories flashed through her mind, memories of when they had visited the waterfall. Lucrecia's waterfall. Vincent had seemed in such melancholy, yet it was beyond that. Regret. And Lucrecia had done nothing except push him away.  
  
"I love you, Vincent!"   
  
And with that, Lucrecia turned and fled from the room, auburn hair cascading around her shoulders in angry locks, the strands still wet from the Lifestream.   
  
Vincent swayed in place. He felt a turning point here, a trial that he had to overcome. Maybe he died right then, because a life flashed before his eyes. Not his, but Yuffie's. The memories of her, and the memories of her with him...  
  
'I love you SO much!'  
  
'Don't ever leave me, okay?'  
  
'Do you promise?'  
  
'Come on, show me a smile!'  
  
'I told you a million times, Vinnie, it's a surprise.'  
  
'I'm sorry...'  
  
'Jeez, Vinnie, it's only a little materia...you don't really need it, do you?'  
  
'Vinnie, put me down!!'  
  
'I love you.'  
  
'I didn't want you to go to sleep anyway.'  
  
'Vinnie, that hurt!'  
  
'Mmm, what a sexy little vampire you are.'  
  
'Trust me!'  
  
'GROSSNESS!'  
  
'Bite me.'  
  
'Oh, go suck on your belly button.'  
  
'I love you.'  
  
'You suck!'  
  
'You're only a monster if you want to be.'  
  
'It's the stuff on the inside that counts, Vinnie Valentine! Although, the stuff of the outside sure was made well...'  
  
'Oh, shit. I am so dead.'  
  
'I love you.'  
  
'I believe in you.'  
  
'Jeez, Vinnie, don't be dumb!'  
  
'I love you.'  
  
'You wouldn't know daylight if it up and bit you in the ass.'  
  
'I love you.'  
  
'I came to make sure you keep your ass out of that coffin!'  
  
'I love you.'  
  
'I love you.'  
  
'I love you.'  
  
He had made his choice before, as Lucrecia had.  
  
'I love you.'  
  
There was no way he could live without Yuffie, not anymore. She had exposed the part of him he thought had been buried deep. Coldness replaced by warmth, monster replaced by man.  
  
Vincent couldn't leave her, no chance even if a snowball survived in hell. So, he did the only thing he could do for Yuffie at the moment.  
  
He stayed.  
  
  
***  
  
  
The first thing Yuffie thought when she awoke was, 'If Vincent can knock me out like this every night, I'm never going to get anything done.'  
  
A warm body pressed against her back, molding to every curve her body held. The skin was cool, despite being pressed against her, which told her right there who it was.   
  
Vincent Valentine.   
  
Yuffie shifted and every fiber of her being screamed. Her vocal chords didn't seem to be working to well, so all she could manage was a weak moan.  
  
Vincent was awake in a split second and leaning over her, checking her pulse, her eyes, her wrists. Why her wrists? Yuffie couldn't figure it out for the life of her.   
  
"Yuffie? Are you alright?"  
  
She tried to say "Bite me", but her voice box was still being a booger. Instead, she shrugged.  
  
Vincent crushed his lips to hers, in a bruising kiss that was filled in more passion than she had ever thought possible. His arms wound around her back and he brought her body as close to his as he could, not breaking the kiss for a second. When he did pull away, it was only for air and to tackle her neck with his lips instead.   
  
Yuffie closed her eyes. Her voice wouldn't work for her, but her mind sure as hell would. She lost herself in the sensations of his lips against her neck, his teeth nipping at her ear. And then, without warning, Vincent was looking her in the eye, and there was more seriousness there than Yuffie had ever seen.  
  
"Don't you ever fucking do that to me again."  
  
Yuffie stared at him, only to be met by his gaze evenly. His eyes had darkened to near black, mirroring the turmoil in his mind. Obviously, she had screwed up his emotions pretty badly.  
  
She swallowed thickly and nodded.  
  
Vincent's only response was to tackle her again. She smiled and tapped him on the shoulder. He looked at her with a sigh, for the moment content to just gaze at her. She pointed to her throat, then slashed across it.  
  
"You can't talk?"  
  
A nod. 'Thank you,' she mouthed at him. He smiled and leaned forward to tenderly brush his lips against hers.  
  
'Love you.'  
  
"Mm-hmm. Love you too, Yuffie Kisaragi. Now go to sleep or I'll hit you with a frying pan."  
  
  
***  
  
  
Lucrecia ran aimlessly. She didn't care where she went, she just wanted to run.   
  
Vincent didn't love her anymore.  
  
Why had she been brought back? There wasn't any purpose. The girl Tifa obviously hated her. So why had Yuffie resurrected her? And now she found out that the love of her life had left her for some teenager!   
  
And Vincent didn't love her anymore.  
  
Those words kept repeating like a broken record through Lucrecia's mind. And so she sprinted as far and as fast away from Kalm as she could get. The rain started to pour; at least now, she could cry freely. The tears mingled with the rain almost as if the heavens were crying with her, mourning her loss.   
  
Time passed. Lucrecia didn't know how much. It didn't matter. The Jenova cells in her body let her keep running and never stop. She passed Midgar, reached Junon. Here she stopped; there was no way she could leave this continent unless she caught a ride at one of the boats at Junon.   
  
She entered the broken city, expecting to see no homes, hardly any people. The last time she had seen it, it had been heading for downfall, and with ShinRa on top of it, it was very doubtful it would ever recover. However, a small amount of sun filtered down to one house; the owner had taken obvious advantage because a full garden bloomed there. Other houses had people crawling about them. Apparently, Junon was just about as strong as it could be.  
  
She approached a man who looked a little intelligent. "When does the next boat leave Junon?" she snapped.  
  
The man started at her. "Well, now, young lady, there isn't a reason to be rude--"  
  
"Tell me!" she hissed. She was in no mood for not being rude.   
  
"Yikes. Young people these days, always having conniptions. Keep your panties on. The next boat leaves in a little under an hour, but you have to go to Upper Junon to be able to grab it. But so far as I know, it's...."  
  
The old man's voice trailed off, since Lucrecia had already taken off for the elevator to get to the Upper part of the city.  
  
"...booked. You'll have to stow away and they've put extra guards up for that." The man sighed and turned back to his home. "Young people today. Honestly."  
  
  
***  
  
  
Lucrecia sighed as she reached Upper Junon. The elevator was even slower than she remembered, most likely from disuse. The journey to the top seemed to take forever.   
  
When she reached it, her age old familiarity with Junon took over. She automatically wound her way through the proper passageways and tunnels, soon arriving at the Junon port. Stepping up to what looked to be a guard, she spoke.  
  
"I need to book passage."  
  
The guard shook his head. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but we're completely full. We have been for months. With ShinRa gone, most people can't wait to leave this continent."  
  
Woah. Wait a minute. ShinRa was...GONE?! What the hell had Vincent and his friends done? Whatever it was, it was damned impressive.  
  
"You don't understand. I need to get on this boat."  
  
"There's no way, ma'am. I'm really sorry, but I can't do it."  
  
Lucrecia scowled. She'd have to either a) fight her way onto the boat, or b) stowaway. And the thought of hiding in a crate for three hours was not something that appealed to her senses whatsoever. It had been a long time since she had used her fighting skills; it would be a good idea to make sure she was still in shape.  
  
"I am getting on this boat."  
  
The guard must have sense something in her demeanor, because he called for help. Six guards came up behind him, their guns, and some with their fists, held at the ready.  
  
Lucrecia took a deep breath. She never had a chance at a normal life anyway, not with Vincent forsaking her the way he had.  
  
Grimly, she faced the guards.   
  
  
***  
  
  
Yuffie awoke to a grunt of pain. When she opened her eyes, Vincent was clutching his shin.  
  
"What did you do that for?" he demanded.   
  
Yuffie shrugged. "Sorry."  
  
He started. "You can talk now!"  
  
"Thank you, Captain Obvious."  
  
Vincent smiled. It was nice to know Yuffie hadn't been mentally damaged or anything. He'd still have to ask her WHY she'd brought Lucrecia back. He didn't know where Lucrecia had gone, but if he had left to find out, he might as well have abandoned Yuffie forever. It was true that the ninja herself wouldn't have known his loyalty had swayed, but Tifa and Cloud would. First, Tifa would beat him. Then, Tifa would guard Yuffie. Then, Cloud would beat him. Get the picture?  
  
Yuffie helped pull Vincent up from the bed. "I'm starving!" she said to him with a grin. Inwardly she could have kissed Barret, or maybe even Nanaki, if it weren't for the risk of giving herself a hairball. Vincent had chosen her over Lucrecia...that meant so damned much. She felt like screaming, but it would be a happy scream. If such a thing even existed, that is.  
  
A giggling Yuffie dragged Vincent up the stairs. She piped a "Good morning!" to Cloud and Tifa's surprised faces. They both turned to Vincent, who shrugged.  
  
"She was up and kicking this morning. Literally."  
  
"Look, Vinnie, I said I was sorry!"  
  
"You did not."  
  
"Well, I'm saying it now, so there."  
  
The pair stopped at the forlorn looks on Cloud and Tifa's faces.  
  
"What is it?" Vincent demanded, his tone sharp.   
  
"Look," Tifa said dully, and passed the two the morning newspaper. Yuffie read it out loud:  
  
"Guards Killed at Junon Hijacking:  
  
Thirteen guards were murdered by a stowaway on a Junon ship that was departing for Costa Del Sol at 6:25 p.m. yesterday.   
  
Guards were immediately sent to Costa Del Sol's docking port, but the boat from Junon never arrived. The guards stationed at all other ports within a five hundred mile radius have been informed of the terrorist and special forces are being brought in.  
  
The assailant is female. She is approximately 5' 7" with auburn hair that reaches her back. She is armed and considered extremely dangerous.   
  
While police don't know where she came from, she doesn't appear to be human. It is possible she was injected with Mako in a process of working for ShinRa, Inc. but it isn't likely that a female would be in the SOLDIER program.  
  
If you have any information, contact the nearest police station."  
  
  
The silence that followed was so thick you could have cut it with a chocobo feather. Yuffie was the first one to move. Tugging hard on Vincent's sleeve, she made him turn to face you.  
  
"She won't listen to any of us. You have to go and stop her!"  
  
"What?" Vincent asked, a little taken aback by Yuffie's forwardness.  
  
"Lucrecia! You have to stop her before she kills anyone else!"  
  
  
  
  
A/N5: Shorter. Oh well. These chapters are just going to form themselves, regardless of how long they are. I'm not really sure where this came from, but it came from somewhere, so now I'm going to continue it. The song doesn't really fit the chapter, but that's okay. *shrugs* 'Til the next chapter, then! 


	6. We Will Meet Again

Tequila Mockingbird  
part VI - We Will Meet Again  
  
  
A/N: Y'know, I really kicked myself once I uploaded the last chapter. Knowing the almighty power of irony, I knew that Mr. No Name would turn out to be Miss No Name. *bows* Sorry about that. I could give you a bow to wear, but you'd probably hit me, so I won't. XD  
  
A/N2: I don't know where this plot is going. *sighs* It all comes to me as it will.  
  
A/N3: Thanks to Kittie Gurl, Kupo, Miss No Name, End of Trend, Sick Little Fiend, sabacat, and Attack of the Evil Furbies. You guys are my inspiration! *gets all teary eyed, sniffles, and crushes you into a group hug*  
  
A/N4: Dedicated to all that hate Lucrecia. We should start a clan.  
  
A/N5: Attack of the Evil Furbies, I shall do my best not to kill you. ^_~  
  
Disclaimer: Blah. You know what I'm gonna say.  
  
Disclaimer2: "We Will Meet Again" is by Vast.   
  
  
***  
  
  
Where have you gone  
My love, my friend  
Somewhere without the rain  
I feel afraid now, I feel alone  
  
We will meet again  
Can you recall what we once knew  
Somewhere without the pain  
I feel afraid now, but not alone  
We will meet again  
  
I can't hear your voice  
But you know I feel your soul  
  
I can't hear your voice  
But you know I feel your soul  
  
Where have you gone  
My love, my friend  
Somewhere without any pain  
I'm not afraid now, I'm not alone  
We will meet again  
  
  
***  
  
  
Lucrecia let her gaze wander around the bar at Costa Del Sol. She had her eye on the rich man with silver hair in the corner, drinking by himself. If she led him to believe he could sleep with her, she could easily knock him out, especially if he was drunk, and raid his wallet. It was a dirty plan, but at least it was a plan. She couldn't get very far without any cash, and killing again wasn't a good idea. Not this soon, anyway.  
  
She sighed and took a sip of her tequila. Killing hadn't been her idea, but the guards at Junon had been better trained than she had anticipated. Now, it didn't matter what she had to do. Only get away. That was all that mattered.  
  
The fact that Vincent had forsaken her continued to play over and over in Lucrecia's mind, shoving her deeper and deeper into a prison of her own melancholy. She couldn't believe that Vincent had chosen a spoiled teenage brat over her. With another sigh, she downed the rest of her drink, letting the alcohol light it's fire through her insides.  
  
She caught the man looking at her. She smiled and fluttered her eyelashes prettily at him, adjusting her arms to give him a nice view up front. Inwardly, she was kicking herself, shuddering, and making other noises of disgust. Outwardly, however, she maintained her seductive facade.   
  
The man motioned for her to join him with a quick wave of his hand, and Lucrecia's smile widened. This wasn't going to be near as hard as she thought it would be.   
  
She swayed and sauntered over to his table, sitting down a little bit sideways to give him a nice view of her hips. The man sighed.  
  
"Give it a rest, babe. I'm not going to sleep with you."  
  
Lucrecia blinked and looked at him dead on. She gave a small chuckle. "I'll have to find someone else to rob, then, won't I?"  
  
He nodded and gave her a hesitant smile. "I'm not easy to rob from anyway."  
  
She raised an eyebrow, much like Vincent always did. "Oh?"  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Why did you invite me over, if you aren't looking for any action?"  
  
"Your eyes fascinate me."  
  
"My eyes?"  
  
The man nodded. "They glow a little bit. It reminded me of my days in SOLDIER, which, I assume, you came from. If you didn't, then you had some friends in high places to get Mako injections out of ShinRa."  
  
Lucrecia blinked. But...this man's eyes didn't have the glow of Mako at all. Her eyes narrowed. There was something up here, and she intended to find out what it was.  
  
"You haven't been injected with Mako, either."  
  
"So you deny it?"  
  
"So you don't deny it?"  
  
"Touche. I'm wearing contact lenses. Only opaque colors can hide the glow, unless you know where to look around the rim of them. Not many people know that the glow can be hidden, but it's a useful thing. Then again, not many people know about Mako injections to start with." He looked her in the eye. "I've told you mine, now you tell me yours."  
  
Lucrecia snorted. "Why should I? It's not your business."  
  
The man's eyes hardened. "If you've gotten illegal Mako injections, I'll make it my problem."  
  
"Well, I haven't, so there."  
  
"Then why do your eyes glow?"  
  
Lucrecia sighed deeply. 'Note to self,' she thought. 'Get opaque contacts.' "I can't tell you."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"I can't trust you."  
  
The man seemed to mull this over, tilting his head slightly to the right. It gave Lucrecia a wonderful view of an infinity shaped tattoo on the lower part of his neck. She started. Hojo had one in the exact place...  
  
"Very well," Lucrecia said. She wasn't sure why, but that tattoo...she felt she had to tell this man her history. "I'm not sure why they glow, but there are two possibilities. I was injected with Jenova cells at the age of thirty two, and my son was injected before he was born."  
  
"Go on," the man said slowly, almost lazily, and definitely with arrogance.  
  
'He thinks he beat it out of me!' Lucrecia thought, her anger rising. 'Hmph. Fine. Let's see if he's prepared for what's next.'  
  
"The other possibility is the Lifestream. I died twenty three years ago. Recently, I have been resurrected by the last remaining Ancient on this planet."  
  
The man's eyes widened, and they suddenly reminded Lucrecia of olives. She had no idea why. "Liar," he hissed.  
  
Lucrecia smiled. "Sure," she said vaguely, waving her hand. She loved that word. It was the all purpose word for...well, everything. If he thought she was a liar, then it would be easy for her to get away. She had no desire to trifle with a man from SOLDIER, assuming his claims were true.   
  
"You aren't lying," the man said slowly, gauging her reaction.  
  
She sighed. Men could be so stupid. "No shit, Sherlock."  
  
"How did you end up here?"  
  
"Woah. Hold it a second. I'm not going to give you my life story. Hell, I don't even know your name."  
  
"...It's Llyr."  
  
Lucrecia chuckled. "The ancient sea god, Lear. The two names are pronounced the same, too."  
  
Llyr raised his eyebrows. "I'm impressed. You don't strike me the type to know mythology."  
  
Lucrecia flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Yeah, well, appearances are deceiving."  
  
"Obviously. And your name would be...?"  
  
"Lucrecia."  
  
"I see. One who poisoned her friends to improve her position in power. But, after much deliberation, it was decided that she had a much nicer nature and was as beautiful as she was intelligent. You have certainly proven to be intelligent; however, I ask you this: which nature belongs to you?"  
  
Lucrecia smiled, but it was a smile devoid of any emotion. "You'll just have to found out, now won't you?"  
  
  
***  
  
  
'If it weren't for his eyes, the two could be twins. Well, that and the length of the hair. Llyr...it makes me want to hold him so badly. I wonder if I will ever get that chance?'  
  
  
***  
  
  
Lucrecia sighed and sat down next to Llyr on the train. The new tracks that ran through Corel were proving to be useful indeed. She knew, however much she wished to deny it, where she was traveling, almost as if the winds were carrying her.  
  
Niblehiem.   
  
She knew what possessed her to do so, yet she wouldn't speak the name aloud. She knew whose history lay there, yet she dared not even think it. With the mere mention of his name, her world could come crashing down again. So, instead, she uttered the name of the one he had chosen over her.  
  
Yuffie Kisaragi.  
  
The name made her blood boil, and she could feel the cells of Jenova inside of her, crawling, aching, itching to be free. She clenched her hands into fists so hard her nails drew blood, and yet still, she didn't care. The blood made her heart ache even more for the blood of that girl.   
  
Llyr had abruptly stated that he would accompany her on her journey, where ever she may be headed. This made Lucrecia suspicious, but she certainly couldn't stop him. Despite the armed guards almost everywhere, the forces of the planet had excruciatingly diminished.   
  
The red lights flashed throughout the train, signaling the checkpoint. Lucrecia sighed, pondering if she should behind car hopping. The news of the killings from Junon had spread far, but they still didn't know who she was. Cutting her hair had been a possibility, but they would most likely expect that. It was difficult to predict the next move of crazy mobs of people, especially ones that were after killers.  
  
Before Lucrecia realized what was happening, the car around them had emptied and six armed guards were standing in front of them. One of them spoke:  
  
"Come with us. Now."  
  
Lucrecia let a small chuckle escape her lips. She had single handedly taken down thirteen men before, and now they thought they could stop her with six? Stupid humans.   
  
"I thought you were the one from Junon," Llyr said quietly beside her.  
  
She jumped. He knew who she was, and still traveled with her? He was either very stupid, very brave or incredibly capable of taking care of himself. Lucrecia hoped he was stupid. That way, he'd be easier to manipulate if it came to that.  
  
A guard pointed a gun at her chest. "Now!" came the commanding voice again, demanding obedience.   
  
Lucrecia didn't give it.  
  
Up faster than a normal human could be, she brought her leg out, swiftly disarming the guard with the gun. A well placed knuckle to the eye left the next one reeling, and the third one she kicked where she knew it would hurt a man most. The fourth and fifth had had time to get their guns ready; she ducked and they shot each other. With three more simple blows, every guard was knocked out or killed. She surveyed the damage and sighed.  
  
"So much for using the train systems," she muttered.  
  
"Not bad," Llyr said appreciatively. "But you could have disarmed the first one more effectively by punching him in the throat, and then he wouldn't be able to stand instead of merely nursing an injured arm."  
  
Lucrecia growled at him. "I got the job done, didn't I?"  
  
She couldn't see his eyes through his contact lenses, but the corners of them crinkled slightly in mirth. "Oh, indeed you did," he said, his voice making it apparent that he was indeed amused. "I think I will follow you more, Lucrecia. You require further observation."  
  
"I am not a specimen to be stared at!" she hissed.  
  
"Hojo thought you were."  
  
The statement stopped her cold in her tracks. Who the hell did he think he was...and how the hell did he know about Hojo and what he had done to her? She could have strangled Llyr at that moment, and she knew she would probably feel like strangling him for some time to come. She would have to find out more about him.  
  
  
***  
  
  
He would have to find out more about her.   
  
Llyr chuckled as he followed the woman out of the train; wisely, no passengers had tried to stop them. She was an amateur, and he highly doubted she could take down a member of SOLDIER. Or, say, any single one of Cloud and his friends. Even Cait Sith could take her down, and he was a damned toy. Still, he was impressed. For only a small amount of Jenova cells in her body, she was doing impressively, and that meant one thing: she had something driving her.  
  
Llyr intended to find out what it was.  
  
The woman stomped around everywhere she walked. Llyr guessed what he had said about Hojo had hit closer to home than he had thought it would. He smiled to himself. Once she told him about her, she would be easy to manipulate.   
  
But then again, Llyr mused, it was obvious she had been thinking about manipulating him. That would certainly prove to be amusing, in the least. The only one who had ever manipulated him had been Jenova, and he had still always kept a steady stream of his own thoughts. A mere human could never do what Jenova had done, much less exceed it.  
  
It was sometime later when they arrived at Niblehiem. Much time later, actually, but Llyr didn't care to keep track. They booked a room at the inn, and Llyr settled down next to Lucrecia.  
  
"Alright, out with it."  
  
"What?" she asked.   
  
"What's bothering you so much?"  
  
She snorted. "Why would I ever tell you?"  
  
"I'll listen."  
  
Lucrecia pondered that answer and sighed. What would it matter?  
  
And so she told her story.  
  
When she was finished, Llyr looked at her with a look of...pity, maybe. Lucrecia couldn't quite place it, but she felt that she didn't need to. It wouldn't matter.   
  
"Why don't you take him back?" Llyr asked idly.  
  
Lucrecia's eyes shot up to stare at him. Inwardly, Llyr smiled. She was already playing into his hands.   
  
"Take...Vincent back?"  
  
"Yes. You've heard the saying, I'm sure. 'If I can't have him, no one can.'"  
  
She stared at him with eyes that were very, very wide. The realization hit her. 'If I can't have him, no one can...'  
  
And she went to her separate room to ponder this new idea.  
  
  
***  
  
  
Llyr chuckled. This was proving to be incredibly easy. Why not give Lucrecia a new ally? If she was the same person he thought she was, then it would definitely be a good idea to get to know her. Or, perhaps it would be the worst idea he'd ever have.   
  
Llyr stretched, preparing for sleep. His eyes were aching him a little bit; he removed the contact lenses that hid the true color of his eyes at well at their glow. He sighed and peeled off his shirt, flopping down on the bed. Whatever the outcome, it would prove interesting.  
  
With that last thought, Llyr's Mako green eyes closed as he surrendered to sleep.  
  
  
  
A/N6: Pardon shortness. I really, really need to go do homework now. -_- Stupid school... 


	7. Duel the Victorious

Tequila Mockingbird  
part VII - Duel the Victorious  
  
  
A/N: The idea of this chapter came to me in a whole five seconds. ^_~ I'm sorry this chapter is so late, but I've been incredibly busy as well as muse-less these past few days. *sighs* Sorry!!  
  
A/N2: Thanks to End of Trend (who reviewed about five minutes after I posted last ^^;;) Attack of the Evil Furbies, Kittie Gurl, Mana Angel, sabacat, Miss No Name, Reese, Kupo, Steff, Yuko Hoon, lily-the-angel2002, and Tifa. You guys are so cool that air conditioners should be made illegal. *laughs awkwardly as crickets chirp in the background* *sighs* Okay, I'll stop making jokes. ^^  
  
A/N3: Reese, Llyr reminds you of Sephiroth because he's supposed to. ^_^  
  
A/N4: This chapter is dedicated to Siena. I'm sorry that your cat now thinks of you as insane, but I'm glad you enjoyed the first chapter so much. XD  
  
A/N5: The songs this chapter are based on don't have words. However, they are both by Bond and are called "Duel" and "Quixote".   
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
Yuffie's eyes slowly opened as her gaze was met by a series of the darkest clouds she had ever seen. They roiled overhead, creating an angry swirl that not even the fury of Nature could compare to. It was obvious they weren't natural in the least, just as it was obvious she was dreaming.  
  
Placing her hands confidently on the edges of the coffin she was laying in, Yuffie sat up slowly. The rose petals around her fit perfectly in with the dismal exterior of her current world, their redness almost glowing.   
  
She heard a sound behind her. Whirling, the coffin disappeared, leaving her standing on her own. Vincent was there ahead of her, his gaze as scarlet as the rose petals and as gloomy as the sky.   
  
"Vinnie? Where are we, do you know?" Yuffie's voice sounded strange to her. It echoed around her creating a synthesized effect. This proved to her that she was dreaming.  
  
Vincent's voice was monotonous as he spoke. "You don't know? You really are stupid, Yuffie."  
  
Yuffie stood a step back, startled. Vinnie wasn't normally like this. Something was wrong.   
  
"Vinnie, are you okay?"  
  
He snorted. "Of course I'm okay. Why wouldn't I be?"   
  
Yuffie's eyes misted just barely, but just enough. This was her dream, wasn't it? So why did he act like he hated her? "Um, I don't know, I was just wondering."  
  
"Well, don't," he snapped.  
  
"Okay...."  
  
Vincent rolled his eyes. "You are so dumb. This is where Lucrecia died."  
  
Yuffie gasped as his words sunk in. Lucrecia...had died here? She shook her head violently.   
  
"No! She didn't die inside of my mind! I didn't kill her!"  
  
"Yes, you did. You broke her heart."  
  
"I did what?" Yuffie cried, tears threatening to overspill her eyelids. How could she have broken Lucrecia's heart? Frustrated, Yuffie stamped her foot barely. Why she was about to cry, she didn't know. Something about her surroundings magnified her negative emotions.  
  
"You killed her!" Vincent snarled, his hand going slowly to the Death Penalty.  
  
"I...No!"  
  
"Yes," a silky voice said from behind Vincent. Lucrecia stepped out from behind a dead tree, it's gnarled limbs casting ghostly shadows on her, creating a start contrast to the white dress. She looked heavenly, as opposed to a Yuffie that looked like she had just spent a thousand years in a coffin, which she probably had.  
  
"You killed me. You took him from me. You broke my heart."  
  
Yuffie slowly backed away as Lucrecia's arms wrapped around Vincent and he returned the embrace willingly.   
  
"But it doesn't matter anymore."  
  
Lucrecia's smile became sadistic as her lips groped Vincent's neck and he leaned back into the kiss. His eyes closed almost lustfully, and Yuffie had to kick herself in the back of the leg to remind herself that it was a dream. Only a dream.  
  
Lucrecia didn't seem to think so.  
  
Sephiroth stepped out from a tree to the left of the couple, gazing at them thoughtfully before turning to Yuffie with a smile on his face. Yuffie gasped. This was Sephiroth, but with much, much shorter hair. His eyes were such a startling, very obviously Mako infused green. They shocked her and held her enraptured in their spell. She blinked, and then the color was gone, to be replaced by a rather dull green brown. Lucrecia looked at him and smiled.   
  
"Llyr. Help me get rid of her."  
  
Llyr turned to Yuffie once more. Lucrecia couldn't see his face, but he was looking a little bit amused. To Yuffie, he spoke into her mind:  
  
'She'll only win if you let her. You have the love of the vampire; if you ever lose faith in him, your world is lost. Don't let the power you've been given consume you, as I did. It will never be the answer. Now, wake up. Take advantage of the time you have with him, because Lucrecia is coming.'  
  
And then, it started to hail.  
  
  
***  
  
  
The sheets clung to her naked form, her sweat dampened hair falling in her eyes. She looked to the sleeping Vincent beside her, and sighed.   
  
She was, needless to say, happy to discover Lucrecia wasn't in the bed with them. That would have been...  
  
Grossness!  
  
'Don't even go there, Yuffie,' she scolded herself, raking a hand through her hair. That dream had been so real...and suddenly, the room was way too hot. She stood and, not wanting to yank the sheet away from Vincent, hurriedly opened a window. She wasn't fond of walking everywhere flashing people.   
  
She groaned from the heat and decided to wait a minute before climbing back into the bed. While she wasn't sure if her temperature was 103° because of the dream or because of Vincent, she was still way too hot.   
  
"Nm," a very, very sleepy Vincent murmured from the bed. "Get back here."  
  
"What if I dun wanna?"  
  
Vincent peeked open a red eye and glared at Yuffie. Sighing, he disentangled himself from the sheets and stood, intending to walk over to her. Yuffie could help but stare.  
  
Vincent raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to ogle me all day?"  
  
She grinned and gave what could have been a growl. "Not unless you're gonna let me do something about it."  
  
"I think I can handle that. Aren't you tired?"  
  
Yuffie laughed. "Not as tired as you're gonna be when I get done with you."  
  
Vincent snorted. "Don't make threats unless you can carry them out."  
  
Yuffie's eyes widened. "Pig!"  
  
"Brat."  
  
"Vampire."  
  
"Slut."  
  
"I'm a WHAT?!" Yuffie hollered, yanking a pillow from the bed and whacking him with it. He ducked, laughing, and tried to escape through the bedroom door. He flung it open, and prepared to launch himself down the stairs.  
  
But Cait Sith was in his way.  
  
The cat covered his eyes fiercely and yelled out for all of Kalm to hear:  
  
"THE VAMPIRE'S MOLESTING ME!"  
  
  
***  
  
  
Cloud sighed patiently and sat in front of a very disgruntled Vincent and a Yuffie who was smothering her laughter by attempting to kill herself with a pillow.  
  
"You didn't rape Cait Sith?"  
  
Yuffie positively shrieked and no matter what kind of pillow it was, it couldn't have muffled it. Her weight teetered on the edge of the cough and threatened to balance over if she didn't stop laughing. From the looks of it, she didn't plan to stop for quite a while.  
  
"No!" Vincent snapped. Yuffie laughed a little harder, her face turning purple.  
  
"YES!" Cait Sith cried from across the living room. "I just came to chat for a while, and the vampire over there is screwing the brat..."  
  
Yuffie laughed even harder, and her face color shifted from purple to blue.  
  
"...and then he opens the door naked for all the little toys to see, and then he..."  
  
Cloud help up a hand. "I don't need details, Cait."  
  
"Of course you do!" the cat protested. "Of course, the brat over there could give better details of what his--"  
  
Yuffie howled and fell off the couch, hitting her head on the table. Vincent's eyes widened and he leaned down to help her up, but the second she saw his face (or the lovely shade of vermilion he was sporting; one could never tell these things with Vincent) she started laughing again, not even caring as he head fell back against the table.   
  
Vincent sighed and smacked her on the hip painfully. He was pleased she was having such a dandy old time while he was being accused of molesting a stuffed mog, but it would get really old really fast.   
  
Check that. It was already old.   
  
Grabbing the pillow Yuffie had previously used as a muffler before, he slashed it with his claw right before whacking her on the face with it before she could do anything. She looked up, surprised and with a mouthful of feathers. Vincent grinned evilly and promised to every divine being he knew that he would never forget that look on her face.   
  
She sputtered and shot feathers out at him. "Poop head!" she accused.  
  
"Poop head?" he asked, his eyebrow raised.  
  
"YEAH!" Cait Sith cried loudly from the background, waving his megaphone threateningly in the air, proving his voice hadn't been that loud by itself. "Vampire poop head! You heard the brat!"  
  
"I am not a brat!"  
  
"Are so!"  
  
"Are not!"  
  
"Are so!"  
  
"Are not!"  
  
"ARE SO!"  
  
"ARGH! I AM NOT!"  
  
Cloud sighed and took the discarded pillow, whacking both brat and mog on the head. "KNOCK IT OFF!" he roared.  
  
Yuffie and Cait Sith sat back, blinking at him bemusedly. Vincent chuckled and nodded his thanks at the sudden, and extremely welcome, interruption from the childish bickering.   
  
"For the last time, cat," Vincent said dryly, "I did NOT molest you."  
  
"He lies!" Cait Sith cried, pointing his megaphone at Vincent.   
  
"Vampires can't lie!" Yuffie said, completely out of the blue. Vincent looked at her, his expression clearly amused.   
  
"How did you come to that conclusion?"  
  
Yuffie shrugged and gave a sheepish look. "I had to so something."  
  
"No you didn't," Vincent pointed out logically.  
  
"So?!"  
  
Cloud groaned and stood up. Looking forward to an evening of arguments between a toy, a vampire and a...well, a brat, was not how he had planned on spending his evening. He made his was toward the door, not even bothering to say goodbye.  
  
He doubted they would have noticed anyway.  
  
  
***  
  
  
Lucrecia could sense happiness virtually radiating from Kalm and she despised it. Letting out an inhuman snarl, she trudged forward, completely prepared to take back what was rightly hers. Llyr walked along almost obediently behind her, making no complaints whatsoever. His dull green eyes reflected the sunlight slightly, giving way to the secret that his eyes held flecks of gold. Or, at least, the contacts did.  
  
She wondered, briefly, what his eyes really looked like. Quickly, though, she dismissed the thought, automatically filing it under "Completely Insignificant."  
  
Llyr was almost being too cooperative for comfort, but like the color of his eyes, Lucrecia didn't want to even think about it until a particularly rainy day.   
  
The Jenova infused woman wondered briefly when she had become so bitter, and realized it was when she thought she had lost Vincent. Of course, she hadn't. That girl had brainwashed him. And Lucrecia would take him back, even if it meant making it so no one could have him. That was the only way, the only logical thing to do.  
  
Wasn't it?  
  
  
***  
  
  
Back in Kalm, Yuffie awoke from her nap with a start. Vincent wasn't next to her, but staring out the window at the storm that was brewing.   
  
"Vinnie!" Yuffie gasped, her voice coming out like a strangled cry.  
  
Vincent was at her side in a flash, holding her as tears escaped Yuffie's eyes. Vincent was completely puzzled, just as much as he was to the resurrection of Lucrecia, and all he could do was hold her. He watched, fascinated, as Yuffie's tears slowed and a hard look claimed her features. Her eyes turned colder than he would have thought possible.  
  
"She's coming," she said, her voice flat and emotionless.  
  
Vincent started. How did Yuffie know if Lucrecia was coming or not?  
  
"And you know what that means, Vinnie?"  
  
Vincent shook his head warily, gazing at her now frozen stare. Yuffie Kisaragi was pissed, that was obvious.  
  
"We're going to go meet her."  
  
  
***  
  
  
A row of soldiers blocked the entrance to Kalm.  
  
Lucrecia snarled at the familiar sight of all five people, her snarl deepening to a growl when she set her eyes on the brat. She was next to Vincent, and they were holding hands.  
  
Holding hands?!  
  
That was very un-Vincent like, that was for sure.  
  
The brat turned and nodded at Cloud. He looked at her like she was crazy, then nodded slowly. Everyone but Yuffie stepped back, including Vincent, though he was a bit more reluctant.  
  
"Llyr!" Yuffie's voice was commanding.  
  
Lucrecia visibly started and Llyr smirked.  
  
Raising his hands to his eyes, he removed his contacts. Jevova/Mako infused green eyes stared back at Yuffie's Cetra stormy pair.   
  
"Yes?" he asked, a smirk slowly claiming his face.  
  
"Sephiroth." It wasn't a question.  
  
The smirk widened. "Yes."  
  
"WHAT?!" Cloud roared, drawing the Ultima Weapon.   
  
Yuffie raised her right hand and a barrier of green light stopped Cloud instantly and he flew back into Tifa. Vincent stared at Yuffie; he had never, ever seen her this cold before. And was she conspiring with the enemy...? He shook his head as if to clear it. Yuffie wouldn't do that. He believed in her.  
  
"Who resurrected you?" Yuffie said. "It takes a Cetra."  
  
"Or the Jenova bitch you decided was for your boyfriend's own good."  
  
"Lucrecia doesn't have the brains."  
  
Lucrecia bristled and opened her mouth to speak, only to find her voice box wasn't working. Llyr...no, Sephiroth, raised an eyebrow at her.  
  
"Patience, Mother," he said, and all she could do was work her mouth beneath the power of the silence spell.  
  
Sephiroth turned back to Yuffie. "She didn't mean to. Her presence and open Lifestream near here made it easy to come back."  
  
"Why are you here?"  
  
Sephiroth shrugged. "Do you know how old Vincent is?"  
  
Yuffie rolled her eyes. "Duh."  
  
"How old?"  
  
"...Forty-eight."  
  
"Does that bother you?"  
  
She snorted. "Not likely. He's pretty damn sexy for someone three decades older than I am."  
  
Sephiroth chuckled. "That's good to know. Remember what I told you before."  
  
Yuffie nodded slowly as Sephiroth removed the silence spell over Lucrecia. She was to boiling point and beyond. Snarling, Lucrecia withdrew her weapon: a gun almost identical to the Death Penalty. There was only one solutions and both women knew it.  
  
Yuffie withdrew her Conformer and prepared to fight. 


	8. Everything Starts to Shake

Tequila Mockingbird  
part VIII - Everything Starts to Shake  
  
  
A/N: No one razzed on me about the chappy being late! *cheers* That was inspiration enough for me. *bows deeply* Thanks! ^_^  
  
A/N2: Dedicated to Pegasia Silverfeather. Update Chaotic Damnation II soon! Pretty please? *pouts*  
  
A/N3: I need an editor! *sighs deeply* I'm catching so many errors it's sad...Um, I'll let you read the next chapter before I post it? ^^;;  
  
A/N4: REALLY short chapter page and word wise, but don't worry, the suspense is meant to kill you! *smiles sweetly and easily dodges any fruit you throw at her* ^_^  
  
A/N5: Song by Alannah Myles. I dunno what it's called. *sweatdrops* If I find out, I'll post it in another chapter.  
  
A/N6: Uber bear huggles of death to Kittie Gurl, Sorceress Fujin, sabacat, Pegasia Silverfeather, Lily_the_Angel2002, Kupo, Vantia-Vantresque (a new reviewer! *hands you a skittle*), End of Trend and Miss No Name. I love you guys! *cheesy sob as she fades away and the story begins*  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
The Lifestream felt the agony of it's newest friend, and screamed as the bullet pierced her shoulder.  
  
  
***  
  
  
"Is that all you've got, bitch?" Lucrecia snarled, pleased at how well her aim had remained over all these years. But, of course, why wouldn't it be perfect? Vincent was the one who had taught her.   
  
Yuffie's weakness continued to grow.  
  
  
***  
  
  
A sob escaped the planet, and in a rush, Aeris knew what was happening. Yuffie was losing the fight.   
  
  
***  
  
  
Yuffie felt her strength beginning to wane even faster, and knew she had to do something quickly. Try as she might, she wasn't fast enough to outrun a bullet, especially not one from such a gun as Black Velvet. Yuffie didn't know where Lucrecia had gotten her gun, but it was well made.  
  
Lucrecia fired another shot that missed Yuffie purely by luck; Yuffie struggled to lift her Conformer with the bullet in her right arm.   
  
Cloud, Vincent and Tifa behind her were fighting against the magical barrier Yuffie had set up. Cait Sith was too busy to use brute strength against it: he was playing the act of cheerleader. Shouting obscenities at Lucrecia and cheering the one who "screwed the molester" wasn't really helping Yuffie to win the fight, either.  
  
  
***  
  
  
Sephiroth watched from the sidelines, completely fascinated by the young ninja's movements. She moved with a grace greater than that of a cat*, wielding her Conformer as if she herself were infused with Jenova. Sephiroth knew, if none of the others did, that Yuffie was an Ancient. He knew she wasn't an original, but that didn't really matter.   
  
His electrifying green eyes narrowed as he struggled to follow her movements.  
  
  
***  
  
  
The Lifestream's new ally was beginning to gain her strength back, but not very much of it. If help didn't arrive soon, Yuffie would surely perish.  
  
Well, now. Aeris Gainsborough just couldn't let that happen, now could she?  
  
  
***  
  
  
The green blood of the planet flowed out in waves around Yuffie, circling her body. The power began to infuse her, and she prepared to hurl it at Lucrecia. If she could help it, she wouldn't kill the woman. However, after hurting Vincent as much as she had, Yuffie couldn't find it in herself to forgive Lucrecia.  
  
Throwing her Conformer to the ground, Yuffie sang, parts in a voice not her own, parts in a voice she could claim as her own and that was most definitely pissed off.  
  
  
"Little tramp coming up the strip  
With a hundred dollar smile  
Sparks flying off her fingertips  
Drive a young card wild  
Some nights are wound so tight   
Like a storm about to break  
Better stand in the doorway  
When everything starts to shake..."  
  
  
***  
  
  
The Lifestream surged upward to the call of it's friend, ready and more than willing to lend it's power in a fight against one so unnatural.   
  
But then something got in the way.  
  
  
***  
  
  
"You are such a fool!" Lucrecia said, almost happily, as she shot her own power into the earth. With the Lifestream effectively blocked, Jenova rose behind Lucrecia to join the fray.  
  
  
***  
  
  
Sephiroth started. He hadn't expected his mother to join his mother in this fight. If he could tap past the barrier Yuffie had put up...  
  
  
***  
  
  
Jenova's power dampened the Lifestream so much that even it's healing source to Yuffie was eradicated. Screaming with effort, it sent up all it's power along with Aeris's Great Gospel in an attempt to safe the last Ancient of the planet. But, even from deep underground and in the mass of spiritual pain, it was obvious the battle was a losing one.  
  
  
***  
  
  
"I will take him back! He's never loved you!"  
  
  
***  
  
  
"Yuffie!"  
  
  
***   
  
  
With an eruption of power, Jenova removed her strength from the entrance to the Lifestream, and the power surged forward. Green geysers shot up everywhere, the green liquid falling on the onlookers and to some, burning like acid.  
  
Sephiroth smiled as the emerald droplets glistened from his eyelashes. It would be hard to keep the girl alive, but necessary. He had seen the world with no Cetra before, had almost destroyed it.   
  
And he had no wish to repeat the visions.  
  
  
***  
  
  
Yuffie screamed as she was swallowed whole by the Lifestream, Lucrecia soon following.  
  
  
***  
  
  
Recognizing his chance, Sephiroth dove in after the two women.  
  
  
***  
  
  
Jenova's power followed Yuffie everywhere, sucking her strength out of her like a leech before she could reach the center of the Lifestream and the safety of Aeris's power there. The agony twisted through her body, and it was then she knew she was going to die. Yuffie Kisaragi only had one thought before Jenova engulfed her completely:  
  
'Vinnie!!'  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
* = Cait Sith doesn't count. 


	9. Remember the Tinman

Tequila Mockingbird  
part IX - Remember the Tinman  
  
  
A/N: GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!! *gushes* Thanks soooo much to Kupo-sama and Artemis-chan-sama (doesn't that just sound redundant?) for offering to be my editor! Nya ha! Offer is now closed! Two is plenty. ^___^ Of course, if you gave me a Vinnie plushie, I could consider it. *grins* ^.~  
  
A/N2: I think I know where this story is going to go, but it could get messy. *grins* You have been warned.  
  
A/N3: Uber Thanks to sabacat, Sorceress Fujin, Attack of the Evil Furbies, Estina, Kittie Gurl, Artemis-chan, Kupo, lily-the-angel2002, Miss No Name, End of Trend, Ot-chan, Rikku and satanic kitten for the reviews! *yanks you all into a bear hug*  
Thanks for letting me know what the song by Alannah Myles is, satanic kitten! *grins and glomps you*  
  
A/N4: This chappy is for Kupo and Artemis-chan. You SO made my day and made me want to write more. Whee! *passes out skittles* I'm sorry for not having you two edit this chapter, but I wanted to post it sooner since it took me so long to write it. The next one, though, I promise! ^.^  
  
Disclaimer: *sobs* I want my own Vinnie!!  
  
Disclaimer2: Remember the Tinman is by Tracy Chapman. She's a great artist; you really should go look up some of her work. Her music tends to be liberating. ^.^  
  
A/N5: I'm getting ideas for other stories, which means this one will be coming to a close soon. Maybe a few chapters? I'm not sure yet. Can I talk Kupo and Artemis-chan into still being my editors? *pouts* Also, let me know what kind of story you'd like! ^_^   
  
***  
  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
Nm. She didn't want to move, never wanted to leave. The embrace was so warm, so kind and gentle. She thought it could only come from Vincent, but his strength didn't feel like this. His was dark and distant while bringing you into the deepest part of your soul, and you forgot who you were.  
  
But this...this was different. Like a ray of sunshine encased in ice, it must have been heaven. But she was still on earth, wasn't she?  
  
It sure didn't feel like it.  
  
She remembered fighting with Lucrecia and the power of Jenova, she remembered being eaten alive by the witch that Sephiroth had been so possessed by. Lucrecia had been swallowed by the Lifestream too, but there was a difference between the two women. Yuffie had nothing to fear from the power that created her new blood; Lucrecia had everything to fear. Especially, of course, because she had tried to kill the only remaining Ancient on all of the planet.  
  
The warmth never stopped, though the embrace shifted a little bit. Yuffie hesitantly peeked an eye open, and the warmest light engulfed her whole, healing her wounds, both mentally and physically. She shuddered unwillingly, the greatness of the Lifestream affecting her even when it ran through her blood. She looked into the eyes of the one who embraces her with a sleepy smiles and murmurs that weren't quite coherent, but would have to do. She blinked several times, wondering if she was seeing things.  
  
Sephiroth was holding her.  
  
His hair it's normal length once more, it cascaded around them and landed on top of Yuffie in silver pools. She started and struggled for a minute, as much as she didn't want to.  
  
"Relax." It wasn't a suggestion, it was a command. With a sigh, Yuffie melted into the embrace once more.  
  
"Where is everybody?"  
  
"I believe they are restraining Vincent's urge to jump in here at this very moment."  
  
Yuffie rolled her eyes. "Not them. Everyone else in the Lifestream. It's never quiet in here; I'd know."  
  
"So would I," he said softly, his smooth tenor flowing over her like water, but it most definitely didn't roll off. His eyes were shifting around a little nervously; evidently, he was as uneasy about the silence as she was. It was unnatural for a place with so many ghosts to be so. . .so ghostly silent. It wasn't normal.  
  
"See anything out of the ordinary?" she asked lightly.  
  
"We're in the Lifestream; does that count?" he responded dryly.  
  
"Ha ha."  
  
Sephiroth paused before shaking his head. "No. But that doesn't mean there isn't anything out there."  
  
Yuffie nodded and started to stand. Sephiroth seemed reluctant to let her go, his arms hesitating around her frame briefly before fleeing from her completely. He shook his head as if to clear it, and stood as well.   
  
"We shouldn't stay in one place for too long. If there is anything out there, we'll be sitting ducks if we stay the way we are."  
  
Yuffie nodded again. His logic made sense, definitely. But, still, what could happen to them in the Lifestream?  
  
"Um...Sephiroth?"  
  
He didn't turn to her as he began walking, but she could still tell that she held his attention. "Hmm?"  
  
"What happened to Lucrecia?"  
  
"I killed her," he said, his voice carefully deadpan.   
  
Yuffie started. She hadn't expected him to kill his own mother, that was for sure. Her next question was obviously filled with hesitation, no matter how much she tried to hide it. "Why?"  
  
He shrugged and almost radiated nonchalance. "She would have killed you, and you're the last Ancient."  
  
"You never had a problem with that before," she said, and regretted the words as soon as she said them. He had obviously changed, and though the was a little fearful to ask why, it was still there. Even so, she didn't want to oppose the man whose dream of becoming a god was actually attainable.   
  
He stiffened but said nothing to her comment. Instead, he responded, "I've seen the world with no Cetra in it before. You think that the WEAPONS were created because of Meteor? They couldn't have stopped it if they had all the power of the Lifestream. No; they came because there were no more Cetra. The planet was furious, and needed a friend walking it's surface. With all of the Cetra, who guided the humans, gone, the planet's species would head for mass destruction and war. Like any good mother, she cared for her children and sent WEAPONS to stop it. Not that it worked, of course. Their violent nature got in the way."  
  
"Why didn't she make them without a violent nature?"  
  
"They were already made, almost like a birthmark. They came as she did, and she had to take them as they were. They could have destroyed her and all her children for all the knowledge she had about them."  
  
"Oh, man. Suck."  
  
Sephiroth chuckled as they passed spire after spire of green stone that glowed with a most definitely surreal light. "Yes."  
  
"But what did she think they would accomplish? They couldn't guide the humans."  
  
"She didn't know if they could or not."  
  
Yuffie grumped to herself. "Even if they could, humans wouldn't have listened. They wouldn't know a savior if it up and bit them in the ass."  
  
Sephiroth outright laughed this time. "No, presumably not. It makes you wonder a little bit, doesn't it?"  
  
"About what?"  
  
"The ignorance of humans. What made them that way."  
  
"You think more than Vinnie does."  
  
Sephiroth seemed to chuckle a little bit. "Vinnie? Is that your name for the vampire?"  
  
Yuffie grinned sheepishly and nodded. "He hates it when I call him that."  
  
"He would have shot you if it bothered him that much."  
  
Yuffie let out a little laugh. "Good point."  
  
The duo continued on the path they were walking, and neither one nor the other was quite sure where they were going; the base objective was merely to keep moving. It didn't matter when, or where, or how, they just needed to walk. Yet perhaps they were running, from troubles unnamed to themselves.   
  
Yuffie's love for Vincent never wavered, but she couldn't help wondering if his love for her had. She still wasn't sure if she had done the right think in bringing back Lucrecia; she was a little afraid to know what things would have become if she hadn't. If Lucrecia hadn't brought Jenova back. If Sephiroth hadn't been there to catch Yuffie as she fell. If Vinnie didn't love her.   
  
There were way too many ifs in her thoughts for the young ninja to be comfortable.  
  
Meanwhile, the ex-Psycho/Mass Murderer/Son of Two Mothers/Wielder of Sword Taller Than Something Really Tall was having similar thoughts. However, his were focused on the petite ninja that was bumbling around like an idiot in front of him. He didn't know where she had come from and it didn't really matter. He knew of her birthplace in Wutai, but where the Ancient blood inside of her had come from remained a mystery to him. He realized it probably had to do something with Aeris Gainsborough, but that still didn't tell him how the infusion had taken place. Now there was a piece of information useful to get your hands on. Not that Cloud would let him live long enough to actually use it, of course.  
  
"Do you think we should return to the surface?" Yuffie asked softly, her eyes skimming the greenish hues that surrounded them, her lips playing in a slight smile.  
  
"Isn't this home to you?" Sephiroth asked, a little surprised she would want to leave, but it figured. As an Ancient, and a live one at that, she could stay down here as long as she desired and never age.  
  
Yuffie shook her head and outright smiled at him. "Home is where Vinnie is."  
  
  
***  
  
  
"Let me through there NOW, damn it!"  
  
Cloud swore and drew the Ultima Weapon, aiming it directly at Vincent's chest. "You'll die in there, Vincent," he said flatly, his voice as cool, and ruthless, as it had been when he killed Sephiroth the first time.  
  
"Yuffie's in there, Cloud." Vincent's words were colder than Cloud's.  
  
Tifa rolled her eyes and punched each of them in the stomach. "Grow up. She's an Ancient now, remember? She can live under there indefinitely."  
  
Vincent's eyes widened as he stared incredulously at Tifa. "She's an Ancient?"  
  
Cait Sith snorted and opened his mouth to say something about "Vinnie's ignorance" but stopped with a glare from three people that were much stronger than him. All it took was in image of being cut in half, shot and them pummeled and Cait Sith was willing to keep his silence for a long time.  
  
"Yes, she's an Ancient. How the hell do you think she brought Lucrecia back?"  
  
"But I thought..."  
  
Tifa shook her head, causing Vincent to sigh.  
  
"Alright, alright. I didn't think at all."  
  
Tifa shrugged and looked at Vincent. "You were too happy to have her alive."  
  
Vincent nodded slowly and looked toward the gaping hole that led into the Lifestream. "Any idea when they'll be out?"  
  
Cloud shook his head. "Damned if I know."  
  
  
***  
  
  
Sephiroth felt his world swirl out from underneath him. The last thing he was aware of was some smart ass teenage comment from Yuffie, and then all the green became a blur and he fell through what he guessed had to be the bottom of the Lifestream.   
  
As he was falling, he caught glimpses of the walls around him. They were made of his own memories: Hojo, his first and only sight of his real mother, his Masamune, Cloud. There were many of Cloud. Not a single one was of Jenova, and he didn't know why. He certainly remembered her, so why didn't she appear?   
  
He didn't have any time to ponder it before he fell and Hojo was there.   
  
  
  
*There are locks on the doors  
And chains stretched across  
All the entries to the inside*  
  
Hojo's face was only the second he had even seen. He remembered being torn away from his mother, the needles, the Mako. He had been the first human science project, outside of SOLDIERS, and all that happened to them was their enhancements. Sephiroth was surrendered to the mercy of not only Mako, but Jenova as well.  
  
  
  
*There's a gate and a fence  
And bars to protect  
From only God knows what lurks outside*  
  
  
  
He remembered when he was around four, what Hojo and done to him. His memories of being tied to the bed mercilessly flashed before hi,. Sephiroth shut his eyes in a vain attempt to block out the flood of things that were overwhelming him, but it wouldn't work. At all.  
  
  
  
*Who stole your heart  
Left you with a space  
That no one and nothing can fill*  
  
  
  
Another memory, one of Vincent, appeared before him. Vincent had found Sephiroth, alone, bleeding and crying, after Hojo had already gotten to him. The "vampire's" eyes had widened. Hojo had been experimenting on him as well, but that was all the scientist had done. He remembered the one thing Vincent said to him before he tried to break him out of the ShinRa facility:  
  
"You look so much like your mother."  
  
  
  
*Who stole your heart  
Who took it away  
Knowing that without you can't live*  
  
  
  
The night storm had whipped around them, Vincent's scarlet eyes seeking out anything and everything in the darkness. Sephiroth remained tucked neatly underneath the older man's coat. The boy's brown hair whipped around him, his green eyes flashing in the darkened night. They had made their way quickly to a black chocobo Vincent had nearby.   
  
"Shh, Hades, it's alright," the dark man had murmured to the chocobo. Whether she was frightened by the storm or the aura of fear coming from the small boy, it didn't matter. Vincent did the best he could to comfort the bird and get her into riding condition.  
  
  
  
*Who took away the part  
So essential to the whole  
Left you a hollow body,  
Skin and bone*  
  
  
  
Still, and a band of SOLDIERS had found them. There must have been twelve of them, at least. Vincent had easily killed five of them, but by that time they had captured Sephiroth.   
  
Sephiroth's punishment had been the injection of Jenova and three times the normal amount of Mako. The Jenova cells inside of him made him age rapidly and his hair manifest into an icy silver. His eyes, as a result of the increase of Mako, became beacons in the darkness.   
  
Vincent's punishment had been the Ghalion Beast.  
  
  
  
*What robber  
What thief  
Who stole your heart  
And the key*  
  
  
  
While Sephiroth underwent incredible training, getting his muscles and brain to match his age and height, Vincent lost his arm to Lucrecia and gained a metal claw, courtesy of Hojo. Vincent had tried again on three occasions, each resulting in failure and another beast added to his collection of inhumanness. The worst one of all being...Chaos. The demon had actually spoken to him on occasion, and all were words to dig up his own fear and nightmares, goading the man into letting Chaos free through anger.  
  
  
  
*Who stole your heart  
The smile from your face  
The innocence, the light from your eyes*  
  
  
  
Finally, Vincent had been locked in the basement of the Niblehiem mansion, and in his grief at losing the woman of his life and failing her son, he allowed himself to stay there. Sephiroth's mind became even more and more warped due to Jenova inside of him and Hojo's constant abuse. He remembered the first man he had killed, and the excitement it had brought. Jenova fed his new need to kill, and it graduated into an obsession.  
  
  
  
*Who stole your heart  
Or did you give it away  
And if so then when and why*  
  
  
  
Sephiroth's memories then shifted to being a General in the ShinRa army. Leading Zack into Niblehiem, to discover even more truth about Jenova that he had known before. He had killed Zack, cleaved Tifa's chest in half, killed her father, and had been killed by Cloud. The strength Cloud demonstrated was obviously inhuman. Cloud...had been stronger than he had. Now, that just wouldn't do, now would it?  
  
  
  
*Who took away the part  
So essential to the whole  
Left you a hollow body  
Skin and bone*  
  
  
  
The greenness around Sephiroth seemed to shift, as his memories sifted and melded with Cloud's. The mutual hatred for each other, as well as the fear. The fear between the two was everywhere. Cloud confusion at who he himself was overwhelmed Sephiroth's senses.   
  
  
  
*What robber, what thief  
Who stole your heart and the key  
Now all sentiment is gone  
Now you have no trust in no one*  
  
  
  
Then he felt the closeness of the vampire to the ninja; they seemed to be inseparable. He felt the light coming from the girl, and the utter selflessness from inside, ignoring all appearances of the selfish child to those who didn't look deep enough. The man held his own inner demons, and not just Chaos. He fought constantly with his own guilt, the people he had killed, and the souls he had broken. He fought with the disbelief that Yuffie loved him.  
  
  
  
*Who stole your heart  
Did you know but forget  
The method and moment in time*  
  
  
  
A loneliness and sense of rejection and regret washed over him as he viewed Tifa's memories. After a time, it had become obvious Cloud didn't love her. Didn't love her either the way she wanted him to or as just a friend. He didn't love her at all. And then, today, now...She knew he loved her. But...that was only friendship love. She still wasn't sure if she was his lover, or just a friend with a bedmate bonus. The confusion ate at her heart each time she looked at him.  
  
  
  
*Was it a trickster  
Using mirrors and slight of hand  
A strong elixir  
Or potion that you drank*  
  
  
  
He went inside of the toy, to the man that wielded him, the man he had barely given a second glance to. Reeve. Tortured by his own demons just like the rest of them, from an abusive mother and a rapist father to the love he held for the Ancient that Sephiroth had killed. He couldn't be there when his best friend Tseng died, and could only be there through a toy when Aeris had died. His heart had screamed as none of Aeris's blood was shed; the strike was the Masamune had been that strong and swift. A part of his heart had died, and still he continued on in the midst of a band of people he was traitor to. And he didn't all for her.  
  
  
  
*Who hurt your heart  
Bruised it in a place  
That no one and nothing can heal*  
  
  
  
A shattered dream of space focused around Sephiroth, drowning his sense of right in the world. He had been so close to space, and stopped it for a woman who didn't care if she died for a dream that wasn't her own. He knew this man only because he was the captain of the ShinRa 26: Cid Highwind. And her, Shera. He felt their current love for each other, and felt it in the past, too, even when it had been buried beneath a mask of curses and indignity. Still, Shera wouldn't stop loving him, devoting her life to making up for the salvation of her own.  
  
  
  
*You've gone to wizards, princes and magic men  
You've gone to witches  
The good, the bad, the indifferent  
But still all sentiment is gone  
But still you have no trust in no one*  
  
  
  
Aeris Gainsborough flooded everything he knew, but he realized that this wasn't a flash of someone else's memory. This was real, and she was pulling him away from all of it.  
  
  
  
*If you can tear down the walls  
Throw your armor away  
Remove all roadblocks, barricades*  
  
  
  
"You don't need to see all of this, Sephiroth," her gentle voice said. She hooked her arms underneath his and seemed to swim to the surface and out of the pit of memories he had fallen into.   
  
"Why did I see that?"  
  
"I don't know," she said, responding instinctively to his shaky voice. "But, you've proven that you have more emotions than we thought you had."  
  
"That doesn't matter!"  
  
Aeris blinked at the violence in his voice.  
  
"Don't you get it? The people I saw are the people being tortured by their own demons and emotions and still they fight for the people who shun them. And that isn't even the worst part...!"  
  
"Then what is, Sephiroth?"  
  
"Those were the people I fought so hard to kill."  
  
  
  
*If you can forget there are bandits  
And dragons to slay  
And don't forget that you defend an empty space*  
  
  
  
"Why did the planet even let me exist inside of the Lifestream, Aeris?"  
  
"I don't know."  
  
"Why do you help me after I killed you?"  
  
"I don't know, but you shouldn't think about it, Sephiroth. C'mon, let's go to the outside and meet them all. Yuffie and Vincent are there, too."  
  
"You'll stay with me?"  
  
"I will."  
  
  
  
*And remember the Tinman  
Found he had what he thought he lacked  
Remember the Tinman  
Go find your heart and take it back*  
  
  
  
"Did Yuffie see the things I did?"  
  
"Probably, but I'm not sure. Why don't you ask her when you get up there?"  
  
"Does she hate me?"  
  
"Stop being silly. Let's go to the surface. The planet will let us."  
  
  
  
*Who stole your heart  
Maybe no one can say  
One day you will find it*  
  
  
  
"Let's go, Sephiroth. Everyone's waiting."  
  
  
  
*I pray* 


	10. Wake

Tequila Mockingbird part X - Wake  
  
A/N: Aiight! *grins* I was gonna make this get REALLY drama-ish and have Sephiroth ask Yuffie to kill him and return him to the Lifestream, and there'd be angst between Tifa/Aeris/Cloud, and a whole bunch of other stuff I don't even want to mention.  
  
A/N2: I like this much better. ^_^  
  
A/N3: This is the last chapter of this story, but don't worry, there will be a sequel. The sequel will be less Yuffie/Vincent, but I'll still have a lot of it in there. ^_^  
  
A/N3: A thousand bags of skittles to Kittie Gurl, sabacat, Reese, akari, teraa, End of Trend, Attack of the Evil Furbies, Artemis-chan, Katie and Caroline, and Kupo. Num. Does Kupo have any Kupo nuts...?  
  
Disclaimer: "Whenever, Wherever" is a song that belongs to Shakira. Grr.  
  
Disclaimer2: I want FF7. I want FF7. I want FF7. I want FF7. I want FF7. I want FF7. I want FF7. I want FF7. I want FF7. I want FF7. I want FF7. I want FF7. I want FF7. I want FF7. I want FF7. I want FF7. I want FF7. I want FF7. I want FF7. I want FF7. I want FF7. I want FF7. I want FF7. I want FF7.  
  
But Squaresoft has it. Sometimes, I hate those guys.  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
Yuffie's senses were most definitely covered in Jell-O. Definitely, totally, absotively posolutely. She could have sworn Vincent was kissing her, but her lips were also numb, so for all she knew it could be Cait Sith. And, for all she DID know, it probably was.  
  
"Yuffie...can you hear me?"  
  
'No, dorkus. Go away.'  
  
"Yuffie!"  
  
'Go away, damn it!'  
  
"Please, Yuffie, open your eyes."  
  
Wait. THAT was Vinnie. Mm. She wanted to touch him, hug him, kiss him, and have him... With Cait Sith watching? Hell no!  
  
"If you aren't Vincent and we aren't on a bed, I swear to God I will stab you."  
  
A chuckle. "I'm Vincent, but we aren't on a bed. We could right here, outside of Kalm, next to a gaping hole in the Lifestream if you prefer, of course. Cait Sith would certainly enjoy the view, and you never know what could turn you on. Doing it outside could be just what you were looking for."  
  
Yuffie groaned. That was Vincent. He had to have the most perverted mind anyone had ever seen. Then again, she had started it. She cursed the others, knowing full well that if they weren't there, she would have taken him up on his offer.  
  
Vincent swooped in for another kiss, and this time Yuffie's senses were awake enough to know that it was him. Cait Sith probably had furry lips and would have tried to do more than kiss her before he was slaughtered. Eh, a desperate cat's gotta do what a desperate cat's gotta do.  
  
"Why didn't you come in after me?" Yuffie asked. It wasn't an accusation, just a bemused question. What she really meant, though, was "Who the hell was strong enough to hold you back?"  
  
Vincent growled. "Cloud and Tifa took turns keeping me away from the hole."  
  
Yuffie chuckled. Vincent slapped her shoulder.  
  
"You haven't changed, despite being super duper infused with Mako," Cloud said grumpily. "I was hoping you'd at least be cute."  
  
Yuffie's eyes widened and she groped around for her Conformer, preparing to invent her own methods of acupuncture. Painful ones. However, Vincent's iron grip on her wrist stopped her. She looked up at him bemusedly, and he was staring hard at the hole into the Lifestream.  
  
And Aeris and Sephiroth were manifesting above it.  
  
***  
  
"Aeris!" Cloud cried, rushing forward to wrap his arms tightly around the narrow flower girl. She gasped and laughed lightly, punching his arm. "I may be dead, but while I'm up here, I still need to breathe, you know."  
  
"I thought you would have passed on to the rest of the planet already," Tifa said, carefully keeping her voice even. She was delighted to see Aeris, but her own confusion about Cloud surfaced in full force. Vincent noticed the flickers of emotion on her face, but selected to say nothing at the moment, if ever.  
  
"So did I," she said with a shrug. "But since I was the last Cetra, I assume the planet kept me around to transfuse my spirit blood into Yuffie."  
  
"Makes sense to me," Yuffie said slowly, her gazed locked on Sephiroth. He stared right back, and neither of their gazes looked as if they would shift anytime soon.  
  
Vincent's eyes flicked between Yuffie and Sephiroth, carefully measuring the strength of their gazes. Neither wavered, neither fell, and both held meaning. But, without words, none of the others would understand the feelings between them, and the animosity between Sephiroth and his own mind. Yuffie sighed.  
  
"I won't kill you."  
  
Four heads looked her way, and Sephiroth continued to meet her gaze steadily. "Why?"  
  
"Because, dumb ass. I'm the one with the power, and I say you live."  
  
"Suicide?" Sephiroth questioned, pressing Yuffie's limits.  
  
Yuffie grinned wolfishly and waved her hand in the general direction of Sephiroth, creating a quick green aura that his body absorbed. "Not anymore."  
  
Sephiroth scowled while Yuffie's smile widened. "Looks like your stuck with me and the pathetic humans for the next few decades, huh?"  
  
***  
  
Moving to the motions, Dancing to the beat, Your love is like a potion, Pooling at my feet.  
  
Moving to your body, Kissing fleetingly, Time is like an ocean, Washing over me.  
  
Dreaming to distraction, Wishing to a beat, Life is worth of a fraction Of what you mean to me.  
  
***  
  
Author's Note: End of Tequila Mockingbird! *grins* Incredibly short chapter, but I want to start the sequel. *grins evilly* For those who adore love triangles, the next story is SO gonna be for you. *peace sign* 'Til later, then! ^_________^ 


End file.
